Broomsticks and Babysitting
by Sugar Peaches
Summary: When called away on business, Severus Snape is forced to leave his three year old daughter in the care of Harry, Ron, and Hermione for a week. Will the trio be able to handle the little tyke, or will they never want to babysit ever again?
1. Bella Snape

**Disclaimer: **All of these lovely characters belong to J.K. Rowling, but Bella is mine.

**Summary:** Severus Snape is called away on business for a week. His three-year-old daughter Bella is left in the hands of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Will these students be able to handle babysitting for an entire week?

**A/N:** This story _will_ be finished. I despise when people start stories but never finish them. But I must say, I will update even quicker if I have more reviews!

* * *

"Daddy? Daaaaddy? _Daddddddddy!"_

"Bella Lily Snape," Severus Snape snapped under his breath. He looked down into the pleading eyes of his three-year-old daughter. "Students are trying to finish their potions. You're disturbing them."

"But - but -"

"Silence."

Bella thrust out her lower lip and looked up at her father. He was sitting at his desk, monitoring his class, as she sat on the floor next to him and hugged his long leg.

"But Daddy. . . I just wanna help!" Bella pouted.

Snape sighed, and looked into the sweet green eyes of his daughter. He had set up a tiny drawing desk next to his so that Bella could sit there and draw pictures while he taught his class. But, unfortunately, there were days where Bella could be a burden; like today.

Snape stroked Bella's soft red hair, and was about to answer her when there was a tiny _pop_ and smoke was sent flying into the air.

"Mr. Longbottom!" Snape sneered, jumping out of his chair. "I presume you have an explanation -" Snape stalked off in Neville Longbottom's direction as other children snickered.

Bella scrambled up from her position on the floor and skipped merrily towards the desk of Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

"Hi!" She exclaimed happily.

Harry and Ron both started, but then smiled at Bella.

"Hey Bella," Harry replied to her. Bella blushed.

Although Severus Snape was not very likeable to his students, his daughter was an angel. She had soft, curly red hair that reached the small of her back. She had sparkling green eyes that seemed to glimmer in the sunlight. Bella also inherited her pale skin from her father. But, what really made Bella stand out, was her dimples that were planted on her cheeks. Even when she smiled slightly, the dimples would sink into her soft skin.

Ron looked a bit nervous. "Bella uh, are you - erm - supposed to be here?" He cast a few nervous glances over in Snape's direction.

"No." Bella smiled. Ron laughed nervously.

"Would you like to help us out with our potion, Bella?" Harry asked her. Bella's eyes widened and she nodded crazily. She quickly sat by Harry and Ron's bubbling cauldron.

"Hello there, Bella!" A girl's voice said behind her. It was Hermione Granger. Bella giggled and replied, "Mione!"

"Mione" was Bella's nickname for Hermione. She never could pronounce her name correctly. Bella liked to think of Hermione as her best friend, she was very fond of her.

Bella crawled over towards Hermione, which caused a few students to giggle and whisper, "Aw!" in her direction.

"May I help, too?" Bella pleaded. Hermione smiled at her and nodded.

Hermione called for a few ingredients, and Bella handed them over. Hermione always double-checked the ingredient to make sure it was the correct one before she put it in her cauldron.

After a few minutes, Snape stalked over towards them. Hermione and Bella had been giggling, but Hermione stopped abruptly when Snape approached.

"Bella, did I not tell you to stay at your desk?"

Bella spun around and looked at him. "But Daddy, I was helping Mione!"

"I'm sure she's perfectly capable to finishing it on her own," Snape glared at Hermione, who was nervously stirring her ingredients. "Back to your desk."

"But I -"

"Now."

Bella thrust out her lower lip and stomped stubbornly over to her drawing desk. She took a seat and started to cry. "I was helping Mione!"

Snape flicked his wand, and suddenly a few sheets of paper and crayons had filled her desk. Bella looked at them and was tempted for a moment, but then shook her head and went on crying.

The students in the classroom were used to this, so they focused on their work. But they all sent hateful glances over at Professor Snape, who made sweet little children cry. Except for the Slytherins, who thought it amusing to watch his daughter cry.

Snape tried to hush her, but she only pouted and looked away. Snape went on patrolling his room, making sure that nobody else would blow something up.

When class ended and the children started to file out of the room, Snape glanced over at Bella. She had stopped crying, and was now coloring a picture with a smile on her face. When the last student left his classroom, he walked over to her.

"May I see what you're drawing, Bella?" Snape asked.

Bella nodded and handed her paper over to Snape. He looked at it and grunted. On it was a poorly drawn picture of Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger.

"They're my fwends!" Bella piped proudly.

Snape said nothing and handed the picture back to her. "It's almost time for lunch, sweetheart. Come along."

Bella got up and held onto her fathers hand. As they walked to the Great Hall, Bella would say, "Hi!" to anyone that passed her. The students replied and smiled warmly at her.

Bella had a seat next to her father at the Staff table, since she couldn't sit at a House table. Snape put food on her plate before he started to fill his.

Bella was making a mashed potato volcano when she spotted Hermione, Harry, and Ron at the Gryffindor table. She giggled and waved at them. They spotted her and waved back.

"Daddy, may I go sit with them?" Bella asked.

"Sit with who?" Snape asked her, as he took a bite of his salad.

"My fwends!"

Snape frowned and looked over to the Gryffindor table. He knew who she meant. He shook his head and replied, "No."

"But Daddy -" Bella whined.

"I cannot allow you to sit at the Gryffindor table. You'll stay here with me, and that's final."

Bella pouted once more and stubbornly stabbed her mashed potato volcano with her spoon. The gravy started to spill out of it.

Snape saw this and sighed. "Darling, don't play with your food."

Bella only pouted more and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not hungry."

"Yes, you are."

"Nuh uh!"

"Stop it!" Snape snapped. Bella looked at his stern face and giggled playfully. Snape almost cracked a smile also, but he knew Bella would have to learn to behave.

"Now eat up. It's Friday afternoon, and tomorrow is the Hogsmeade trip."

Bella clapped happily and started to stuff mashed potatoes into her mouth. She loved Hogsmeade trips! Her father always took her to Honeydukes, and she was allowed to take any candy she wanted.

After lunch, Snape was to teach his 6th year students. Bella was placed at her tiny desk and started to draw all sorts of sweets which she would be able to have tomorrow. She loved visiting Hogsmeade. Snape never allowed her to have candy elsewhere, so Hogsmeade trips were special to her.

Once dinner came along, Bella noticed that a huge snowstorm had started outside. She shivered just thinking about it. Once Bella was placed into her tiny chair and Snape had started filling her plate, Dumbledore approached them.

"Uncle Albus!" Bella piped gleefully. Dumbledore smiled at her and patted her soft red head.

"Hello there, my dear. How are you feeling?"

"Good," Bella replied shyly. "Do you have a tweat for me, Uncle Albus?"

"Now Bella," Snape told her. "That was rude. You do not -"

"As a matter of fact, dear," Albus chuckled. "I do." He handed Bella a licorice wand. She giggled as Albus handed it to her and started to chew on it.

"Albus, you spoil her!" Snape groaned. "She hasn't even had dinner yet."

Dumbledore only smiled. "Actually Severus, I have a request that you see me in my office after dinner. I have an important matter to discuss with you."

Snape nodded and filled Bella's plate with more food. She was eagerly sucking on her licorice wand.

"Bella Lily Snape," Snape told her. "You take that licorice wand out of your mouth and finish your dinner."

Bella bit into her licorice wand and started to chew madly before Snape could take it away from her. She giggled when Snape glared at her.

A few seconds later, Bella had finished her licorice wand and took a bite into her dinner roll.

"Daddy?" Bella asked.

"Yes?" Snape asked, picking at yet another salad with his fork.

"Why did Uncle Albus want you?"

"I'm not sure, dear," Snape replied. "I'll find out after dinner."

Bella took a few more bites into her spaghetti and looked over at the Gryffindor table. She caught Ron's eye and smiled at him. He smiled back, nudged Harry and Hermione, and soon they all were smiling at her. Bella had a strong urge to run up to their table and sit with them.

"Daddy, can I sit with my fwends?" Bella pleaded. "Look! I'm almost done with my sketti." She pointed at her plate of spaghetti. It wasn't nearly finished.

Snape glared over at the Gryffindor table, and the trio caught his eye and nervously started eating again. "No."

Tears started to well up inside Bella's eyes. "It's not fair, Daddy!" She hid her face in her tiny delicate hands and started to cry.

Snape dropped his fork and stroked Bella's soft hair. She stubbornly shrugged it off and turned away from him.

"Bella," Snape said to her. He picked her up and set her on his lap. Bella did not protest, she merely started to wipe her tears away. "Maybe another time. I promise."

Bella's eyes lit up. "Weally?" She asked him. He nodded and groaned inside. Bella giggled and wrapped her arms around Snape. Snape smiled at her and kissed her chubby little cheek.

Snape rarely showed affection like this to his daughter in public, but truthfully, he couldn't bare to watch her cry and know that it was all his fault. He noticed some students staring at him and giggling, "Aw," to their fellow classmates.

Bella did not want to sit back in her chair, so she sat on Snape's lap for the rest of dinner time. She ate another dinner roll, but other than that, she started to doze off on his shoulder. Snape gently rocked her until he was sure she had fallen asleep.

Once the students started to fill out of the Great Hall, Snape slowly stood up and walked toward the dungeons, holding his daughter in his arms. He was stopped by Remus Lupin.

"Ah, Severus," Lupin smiled. "Is Bella sleeping? I have something for her."

"Maybe another time, Remus." Snape spat and started to walk away. Just then, Bella's eyes popped open.

"Looooooopin!" She squeaked excitedly. She was now full of so much energy, Snape had a hard time believing she was ever asleep.

"My dear girl," Lupin grinned at her and patted her head. "How would you like a chocolate frog?"

Snape rolled his eyes as Bella squealed happily. Lupin handed her a chocolate frog and Bella accepted it happily.

Snape sneered at Lupin. "Why do you spoil her so much?"

"Why not?" Lupin shrugged, thrusting his hands into his pockets. "Three-year-olds deserve to be spoiled. Especially adorable ones like Bella." He pinched Bella's cheek and she blushed.

"Right." Snape muttered, walking away from Lupin. Once Snape reached his quarters in the dungeon, Bella had opened her chocolate frog. But unfortunately, the frog had hopped away before she got the time to catch it. Bella sighed and looked at the wizard card she had received.

"Into your pajamas," Snape told her as they entered his quarters. Bella skipped over to her room and rushed into her lime green pajamas. She flew into her bed and pulled the covers up to her chin.

Snape walked into her room and sat on the edge of her bed. He noticed his daughter shivering, and with a flick of his wand, a nice fire had started in the fireplace.

"Daddy, tomorrow we go to Hogsmeade?" Bella asked quietly.

Snape nodded and smiled at her. He stroked her hair and looked into her gentle green eyes. _So much like her mother_, he sighed. But he shook the thought away and kissed Bella on the forehead.

Snape watched as Bella drifted off into sleep, then quietly, he turned to leave for Dumbledore's office. Just then, Bella let out a muffled scream. Snape whirled around and looked into the frightened eyes of his three-year-old.

"What's wrong? What is it?" Snape asked fearfully.

"I had a nightmare!" Bella sobbed.

Snape sighed. "Bella, you haven't fallen asleep yet."

"Yes, I did!" She cried. "There was a scary snake man with red eyes who called my name! He scared me, Daddy!"

For a moment, Snape thought of Lord Voldemort. But he brushed the thought away. Of course it couldn't be Voldemort! It must have been another creature Bella had thought about.

Snape picked Bella up from under the covers and held her in his arms. Bella hid her face in Snape's shoulder and once again started to fall asleep. Snape held her for a few moments longer, and once he was sure she was asleep, he tucked her back into bed. He laid a gentle kiss on Bella's cheek before stalking out of the room.

* * *

It was an hour before Snape had returned from Dumbledore's office. He was muttering curses to himself and stalking back to his quarters in the dungeon. Once he reached his own room, he poured himself a glass of fire whiskey. He angrily plopped into a chair before the fireplace and whisked it down his throat. 

Although Snape would have to be called away on business for a week, there was _no way _Dumbledore could allow Bella to be in the care of Potter, Weasley, and Granger!

Snape poured himself another shot of fire whiskey.


	2. Hogsmeade

**A/N:** I'm sorry for not updating sooner! I just got back from my vacation in the Caribbean. Yes, you are jealous, I know. Anyway, I've decided to respond to all the individual reviews. Thanks again for reviewing, everyone!

**Queen of Frizz**: Thanks a bunch! Oooh, and I'll definately have to read your story!

**IdaPida86**: I'm _very_ glad you think I blended it in well. That means a lot, especially since I didn't know how to write it without it being awkward and confusing. As for the year, I didn't really bother with it. I suppose they could be in their 3rd year or past, since Lupin is in it.

**tiffyrose**: Gracias!

**ValidHacker**: Oooh, you flatter me! Thanks a bunch for adding this story to your alerts. As for the connection between Bella and Lily Evans. . . that will have to remain a mystery until later on in the story. Bwahaha! But then again. . . who won't be able to guess that connection? So I guess it's not really a secret, hehe.

* * *

"Daddy! _DADDY!_ Oh, daddy, wake up! _NOW!"_ A giggling voice screeched into his ear.

Snape slowly opened his eyes and noticed Bella standing right next to him on his side of the bed. She had poorly dressed herself in a pink sweater and white pants. Her hair was knotted, since she always let her father brush it. She was wearing no socks or boots.

"Daddy, let's _go!"_ Bella tugged on Snape's elbow and tried to pull him out of bed.

"One moment!" Snape responded tiredly. Bella hopped up and down excitedly.

Snape got out of bed and dressed himself in his usual black attire. The only clothing that was a bit different was his green and silver Slytherin scarf.

Snape took one look at Bella and sighed. He sat her down and brushed her hair properly, letting her curls bounce happily. He handed Bella some socks which she quickly put on, and some tan boots that she also slipped on. Snape went over to Bella's small closet and found her fluffy pink coat. He put the coat on her and tugged some warm mittens onto her little hands. Snape was about to put her hat on her head when she exclaimed,

"Daddy! I can't move!" Bella squealed. She bounced her little arms up and down and ran around in circles. She looked like a penguin trying to dance.

Snape couldn't help but chuckle. She looked adorable, but she also needed to be warm. Snape put the hat over her head and covered her ears.

Snape examined her as Bella stared at him impatiently. "It looks like you're missing something. . ." Snape muttered to himself. After a few moments, he snapped his fingers and rushed over to Bella's closet. He found a nice warm scarf and wrapped it around her face. Now only her eyes were showing.

"_Dadddddddy!"_ Bella complained, but Snape held onto her hand and they walked off onto the grounds.

* * *

Snape and Bella had entered Honeydukes. Once they had stepped in the doorway, Bella wiggled herself free from Snape and rushed further into the store. Snape sighed and waited by the entrance counter.

Bella knew exactly what she wanted. She had been planning it the day before. She grabbed a pack of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, Chocoballs, a few Chocolate Frogs, and Jelly Slugs. She was about to run over to her father when she noticed a tall blonde man talking with him. It looked as if they were arguing.

Bella started to wander off towards different shelves when she noticed her three best friends.

"Hi!" She exclaimed gleefully.

"Bella! How are you?" Hermione smiled brightly at her.

"Good." Bella smiled back.

Hermione knelt down so she was Bella's height and asked her, "What is it you have there?"

"Beans, Frogs, Balls, and Slugs!" Bella exclaimed, looking at only one word on each package.

"Your father lets you eat all that candy?" Ron asked. "I wish my parents would let me do that." Ron checked his pocket, felt a few coins, and rushed over to the Licorice Wands.

"I can share!" Bella smiled up at Harry and Hermione.

Harry stuffed his hands into his pocket and smiled. "That's alright, Bella."

"By the way. . . where is your father?" Hermione asked nervously, afraid Snape would come behind her and deduct fifty house points.

"He's over there!" Bella pointed over to where Snape was still arguing with the blonde man.

Harry and Hermione craned their necks to look at the man. "Lucius Malfoy?" Harry murmured.

Bella giggled. "Who's Loosis Cowboy?"

"Oh - he's nobody." Hermione shrugged, then glared at the man.

Bella skipped over to Lucius Malfoy and tugged on his long black coat. Startled, he looked down at her quickly.

"Hi Loosis!" Bella smiled up at him.

"That would be Bella," Snape told Lucius. "My daughter."

For a moment, Lucius still stared at the girl. But then he exclaimed, "Ah, yes! Little Bella. I've heard much about you."

"Weally?" Bella asked cheerfully.

"Do you have everything, Bella?" Snape asked suddenly. Bella nodded and Snape took the sweets that were in her arm and set it on the counter to pay for it.

Lucius smiled at the young girl, and then continued. "Why yes. Your father has told me all about you, _and_ how adorable you are."

Bella blushed and hid behind her father's leg. When Snape had finished paying and had grabbed the brown paper bag that contained Bella's sweets, he told her, "Bella, you must stop acting so childish."

Bella extended her arms up to her father, indicating that she wanted him to carry her. He managed to hold Bella and the brown paper bag in his arms.

Once Lucius had left the shop, Snape noticed Harry, Ron, and Hermione. He thought about telling them the news now, but then decided to save it for later. He didn't want Bella around.

The day went by quickly for Bella. Occasionally she would see stores that she liked, run off, and Snape was left to chase her down. On the other hand, the day went by slowly for Snape. He hated coming to Hogsmeade, but he knew that Bella loved it, so he had no choice.

When the time came to leave Hogsmeade, Bella was exhausted. She rested her head on her fathers shoulder as he carried her in his arms. A few hours passed and it was time for dinner. Snape knew that he would have to explain to Potter, Weasley, and Granger the plan that he dreaded.

Once seated at the staff table, Snape filled up Bella's plate with small turkey slices and green beans. Bella cringed at the green beans, but happily ate her turkey.

"Daddy, guess what!" Bella exclaimed.

"Yes?"

Bella looked confused for a moment. She opened her mouth as if to speak, then closed it again. Then she giggled. "I forgot!"

"That's nice, dear."

Snape waited for most of the children to file out of the Great Hall. When only a handful of children were left at the tables, he said to Lupin whom was sitting next to him, "I would appreciate it if you could put Bella to bed. I have important matters to attend to."

Lupin agreed as Snape walked from the staff table and down to the annoying Gryffindor trio. He did _not_ want to do this.

"Good evening," Snape remarked as he approached the table. Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked confused but then muttered the same. "I must speak with you of important matters containing my daughter."

Ron gulped and said, "We didn't tell her to get all that candy, sir, I swear! We told her it wasn't good for her and -"

"Not _that_," Snape spat. "I am leaving tomorrow for an important meeting. I should be home late Friday. The reason I am telling you this, is because Dumbledore requests that I leave Bella in the care of you three while I'm gone."

The trio said nothing, but simply stared at each other. Snape continued,

"Of course, if it were up to me, I would never leave my daughter in your care. I don't fully trust you. But it isn't up to me, now is it?"

"Professor," Hermione began. "How will we watch Bella? We have classes and -"

"Dumbledore insists that you do not attend these classes. Of course, you will still be given the assignments."

Harry asked, "Where will she sleep?"

Snape looked down at Hermione. "I assume she can stay with you?"

Hermione nodded. Snape looked at them all before saying, "Good. I will leave her in your care tomorrow after breakfast. The other staff members are already informed of this. You will each receive your assignments for the week."

The three students nodded. Snape was about to walk away, but then remembered something important. He walked back to them and added, "Try not to give her too much sugar. Also, make sure that she is warm when she goes outside. If I come back and find out that she is with a deadly cold -" He didn't need to finish the sentence, he simply glared at each of them. "I am giving Bella a suitcase with her belongings, so you do not need to enter my private quarters. Understood?"

Once the three students had nodded and assured that they would keep Bella under control, Snape stalked off towards the dungeons.

"Blimey! Did you hear that? No classes for a _week_!" Ron exclaimed.

"I still don't understand why a teacher can't look over her." Hermione said, looking confused.

"Well, watching a three-year-old shouldn't be too bad. Besides, we'll get to relax for a week." Harry responded, taking a drink of pumpkin juice.

"We're babysitting, Harry. It isn't exactly a time to relax. We need to watch over Bella." Hermione told him sternly.

Ron's eyes popped wide open. "Wait! What if she gets lost? Bloody hell. Snape will kill all of us! Or - what if she ends up getting a cold?" Ron looked at Hermione and Harry then added, "We're dead."

"No, we're not!" Hermione stated. "Bella is a sweet girl. Snape doesn't seem to be too frustrated with her, anyway. I mean, in class he's pretty harsh on her. She must be pretty obedient."

Harry nodded. "Hermione's right, Ron. Bella's great, it'll be a piece of cake watching her."

"I hope so." Ron muttered. "Well, we might as well head to the common room. We've got a long day ahead of us."

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, Bella was more bouncy than ever. Snape had told her about how she would be in the care of Harry, Ron, and Hermione for a week. Bella shrieked with joy and bounced up and down repeatedly.

"Bella," Snape told her sternly. "Eat your pancakes."

Bella stuffed a forkful of pancakes into her mouth and looked over at the Gryffindor table. She could not _wait_ for breakfast to be over!

Lupin leaned over to Snape and asked, "Is Bella excited for the week?"

Snape glared at him. "No. She's miserable that I will be leaving her."

Lupin ignored Snape's sarcasm and replied, "Harry, Ron, and Hermione will take good care of her. They're good kids, Severus."

Snape only glared over at the trio at the Gryffindor table. "If I come back and Bella is sick to her stomach or full of red dots all over her face, I swear I'll -"

"Severus," Lupin told him. "She won't be sick or full of red dots. I know they'll take excellent care of her."

"They had better," Snape sneered. "Or else."

Once breakfast was finished for most of the students, Snape spotted Harry, Ron, and Hermione waiting patiently at their table. Snape looked down at Bella and said,

"I'll be leaving now, Bella."

Snape had figured that Bella was too excited for the week ahead of her to even take notice that she wouldn't be seeing her father for a week. But, when Bella's eyes started to water, Snape was thrown off guard.

Bella flung her arms around her father and asked, "But D - Daddy! I won't see you for a _whole_ week!"

"Six days, actually." Snape smiled. But when he realized her eyes started to water even more, he added, "Don't worry, dear. Potter and his friends will take care of you." _I hope_, he added silently.

Snape held his tiny daughter in his arms and closed his eyes. It was moments like these that made Snape grateful to Dumbledore and the rest of the staff members. Children that were younger than eleven years were not permitted to live in the school. But since Bella had nobody to take care of her after her mother died, she was allowed to live with her father at Hogwarts.

After blinking a few times, Snape kissed Bella on both cheeks and held her hand. "Come along." He led her to the Gryffindor table where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting. They smiled nervously when Snape approached.

Bella wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and waved to her guardians for the week. "Hi!"

"I expect you all to keep an eye on her at _all_ times." Snape demanded. The trio nodded.

Snape squeezed Bella's hand one last time before walking away to exit the Great Hall. But after a few strides, a pair of little arms wrapped around his waist. Snape looked down and saw Bella standing there. "Bye, Daddy!"

Snape knelt down before Bella and kissed her cheek. "Goodbye, darling. I'll see you soon."

Bella ran back over to the trio once Snape had left the room. Ron whispered to Harry, "I didn't know that old bat could love _anyone_."

After a few moments of sitting at the table in silence, Hermione asked, "What should we do now?"

Harry thought for a moment before responding, "Maybe you should go take Bella to the common room so she can unpack. Ron and I will meet you outside."

So, Harry's plan was arranged. Hermione took Bella to the Gryffindor common room so she could unpack her suitcase. Before going outside, Hermione made sure that Bella was bundled up nicely in warm clothing.

"Mione, can we play a game?" Bella asked, as she held Hermione's hand and skipped merrily towards the grounds.

"Sure. What game do you have in mind?"

"Tag!" Bella exclaimed.

Hermione smiled. "Sure we can." _This week will be a piece of cake, _Hermione added silently.

Once Hermione and Bella reached Harry and Ron, Bella squealed, "We're gonna play tag!"

"Sounds good to me." Harry shrugged. Bella smacked Harry's arm and yelled, "Tag, you're it!"

Bella quickly darted away, and Hermione and Ron followed her lead. Harry laughed and yelled at Bella, "I'm coming for you!"

Bella squealed delightedly and ran even faster. It was difficult to play tag in the snow, especially since Hermione had packed bundles of clothing on her. But Bella managed to wobble very quickly.

Harry pretended that Bella was too quick for him, so he purposely tagged Ron and ran in the opposite direction. Just then, Harry ran smack into Draco Malfoy and they both tumbled into the snow.

"Watch it, _Potter!_" Draco sneered. Crabbe and Goyle attempted to help Draco up, but he smacked their hands aside and spat, "Don't help me."

Harry stood up and brushed the snow off of his shirt and pants. "Maybe _you_ should watch where you're heading, Malfoy." Harry mused.

Draco ignored this comment and asked, "What are you doing, anyway? Running around like a bunch of five-year-olds? It's disgusting."

Just then, Ron, Hermione, and Bella came running in Harry's direction. Bella ran up to Draco and smacked his stomach. "You're it!" She then started to run away gleefully.

Draco stared after her and spat, "What the hell was that about?"

Since Bella didn't notice that anybody was chasing her, she kept running further away. Hermione started to sprint after her. Ron then added, "Leave it, Malfoy. We're watching Bella for a week."

Draco raised his eyebrows. "You three?" He chuckled. "She'll be dead by the time Snape arrives."

Ron was about to punch Malfoy in the face when Harry held him back. "Leave it, Ron. Come on, let's go." They ran off in Hermione's direction, where she was still trying to chase down Bella. Draco smirked and walked away with Crabbe and Goyle.

Hermione managed to grab Bella before she ran into a group of 5th year Ravenclaws. Hermione was panting by the time Harry and Ron caught up to her. "Let's play a new game, shall we?" Hermione coughed. "I'm losing my breath here."

Bella considered this and said, "Otay! Let's play Dolls!"

Ron groaned. "You're kidding, right?"

Hermione nudged him and Ron let out a tiny squeal. "I mean, sounds like fun."


	3. Bella Discovers Magic

**A/N:** Thanks again for all the reviews! I really appreciate them, they really keep me going. By the way, if you're reading the story but haven't reviewed yet. . . please do! I would love feedback or constructive critism also.

**Suggs:** (faints with you) YES! Lucius Malfoy is quite sexy. . . Yummy.

**QuakingQuibbler:** Thank you! And I will definately try and read your story sometime.

**bundles-'o-joy: **Hehe, why thank you! I'm glad you think it's adorable.

**charmedsisters:** Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying it!

* * *

The next day, Hermione was sitting on a couch in the Gryffindor common room as she watched Bella sort out her variety of dolls. Harry and Ron were doing the same. 

"Mione can be Princess Pumpkin. . . hum, Harry can be Prince Cupcake. . . ooh!" Bella let out a tiny squeal and picked up another boy doll. "Ron can be King Brownie! I'll be Queen Jellybean!"

Hermione sat down on the floor next to Bella and grabbed the doll that was called Princess Pumpkin. Harry and Ron sat down beside them and awkwardly picked up their dolls.

"We have to save the world from evil chocolate frogs!" Bella exclaimed seriously. She sat her doll down and made it face Ron. "King Brownie, you gotta search the kingdom! They could be _anywhere_." Her voice dropped down to a whisper. Ron chuckled, nodded, and walked away pretending to look for evil chocolate frogs.

"Princess Pumpkin, you search the kingdom grounds!" Bella squealed, and pointed in a random direction. Hermione nodded and walked in the direction that Bella pointed.

"I suppose I should do the same?" Harry asked, staring awkwardly at Prince Cupcake.

"Nope," Bella replied as she dragged herself closer to Harry. "We get to have a tea party! Don't go anywhere, I gotta go get my tea set!" Bella set down Queen Jellybean and ran as fast as her little legs could carry her towards the girls dormitories.

"Find the evil chocolate frogs yet?" Harry mocked as he set down Prince Cupcake and leaned against the couch.

"Very funny," Ron said as he put down his doll and plopped down on the couch across from him. His tummy started to rumble. "But a real chocolate frog sounds nice."

Hermione set down her doll neatly on the coffee table in front of her and said, "Well, at least it's easy to take care of her. It's only Monday -"

"_And_ we have no classes for a week!" Ron rejoiced.

"We still have to do the work, Ron." Hermione snapped.

Ron groaned. "Thanks for reminding me."

"Harry, where's Bella?" Hermione asked.

"Oh, she went upstairs to look for her tea set." Harry responded. "Is it a real one?"

"I doubt Snape would let her use a real tea set," Ron said. "Speaking of Snape. . . where do you think he was called away on business?"

"No idea," Harry mumbled as he closed his eyes and tried to rest for a moment. Hermione shrugged.

Thirty minutes passed and Bella had not returned. The trio didn't notice this however, since they were too engrossed in their own conversations. But when Hermione noticed her doll sitting on the coffee table she asked, "Where's Bella?"

"She should be here by now. I don't even hear her." Harry sat up from his position of leaning on the couch and his eyes flew open. "Hermione, go get her!"

"_Me?_" Hermione panicked. "But – but what if I can't find her?"

"She's in the girls dorms, Ron and I can't go in there." Harry stated.

"Ugh. Harry, there's nobody here! Now come on you two, we have to find her. She's probably just looking for her tea set." Hermione walked towards the stairs to the girls dormitories. When she didn't hear footsteps behind her, she turned around and saw Harry and Ron pretending to sleep. She stalked over to them, nudged them both, and gestured for them to follow her. They groaned and did as they were told.

On the way up the stairs, Ron said, "If she's gone and we can't find her, we're _dead_."

"She's _not_ gone," Hermione replied a but shakily. "She. . . must have fallen asleep or something."

Harry was about to protest when they reached the girls dorms. "Bella?" He called out. Ron and Hermione did the same. They all started to search eagerly around the room. Mattresses were lifted, beds were looked under, closets were opened.

"She's gone!" Ron panicked. "When Snape finds out that we freaking _lost_ his daughter -"

"Ron, shut up!" Harry said. "We can't just give up. She's got to be around her somewhere. I mean, where else would she have gone? If she came down the stairs we would have seen her."

"Harry's right, Ron. We've got to keep looking." Hermione continued to search the dorm room.

Ron shrugged and decided to look under a bed that he had already searched. "Bel – _holy shit_!" Ron flew back about ten feet and clutched his nails into his chest as if he were about to have a heart attack.

Bella giggled wildly and said, "Boo! I scared you!"

"Bloody hell you did!" Ron replied and kept clutching onto his chest, breathing heavily.

"There you are!" Hermione said as she dragged Bella out from under the bed. Harry was on the floor laughing from Ron's encounter and facial expression. "Why didn't you just bring your tea set down? You scared us all!" Hermione cried as she set Bella down on the bed.

"I forgot that Daddy didn't let me bring my tea set." Bella replied. "Now we play Hide and Seek!"

"Let's not and say we did." Ron responded shakily. He paused a moment and then said, "Wait. Bella, how did you get under there?" He pointed to the bed. "I had already checked under there."

"I went _poof!_" Bella waved her arms in the air and giggled playfully.

"No, seriously!" Ron retorted. Now he was just confused. "I already checked under that bed earlier, and how could you have gotten around the room without us seeing you?"

"I told you, I went poof!" Bella replied. "Poof! Poof!"

"Bella, you're not making much sense -" Hermione trailed off. "You scared us half to death and now you're telling us that you went 'poof'?"

"Uh huh." Bella nodded. "Watch this!" Bella stared at the pillow that was sitting on the bed. For a few moments nothing happened, but then the pillow started to hover in midair. When the pillow dropped back to the bed, Bella giggled.

"I'm magic!" Bella squealed happily. Harry stared wide-eyed at the pillow and then asked Hermione, "What was that?"

Hermione's eyes were also focused on the pillow. Her mouth was opened slightly and she responded to herself, "This can't be happening."

Ron seemed to understand what Hermione was thinking. Harry looked at both of them and asked, "What's happening here? Is there something I need to know?"

"She just started to learn how to use magic." Ron groaned. "The week that we have to watch her. Great. Just great."

"But she doesn't have a wand." Harry stated.

"She can't help it, Harry!" Hermione cried, exasperated. "When wizardry kids are younger they can't control their magic. That's why the Ministry lets them off. But once they are eleven and they get their wands, they're not allowed to use wand less magic anymore."

Harry shook his head, confused. "I don't understand. How can she even use magic without -"

"Harry," Hermione looked at him. "Do you remember before you came to Hogwarts, where you could do things that you couldn't even explain? That's wand less magic. It happens to every witch and wizard." Hermione sighed and looked at Bella who was eagerly listening to their conversation.

"You mean I'm _magic_ now? I'm a witch?" Bella gasped. Hermione nodded.

Ron groaned again. "I can't believe she's starting her wand less magic now! I mean, why couldn't she wait until Snape got back?"

"She can't help it, Ron." Hermione spat. "Besides, she just started. I don't think it'll be that bad."

"Watch me!" Bella squealed and jumped off the bed. Before Hermione could catch her, Bella ran out the door and down into the common room. The trio darted into a run after her. When they reached the common room, they noticed that a few chairs were floating in the air. And Bella was sitting on top of one.

"Mione, look! I'm flying! _Wee_!" Bella squealed happily and made her chair soar around the room.

"Bella!" Hermione cried. "Get down from there!"

"Bloody hell." Ron whispered as he watched Bella fly around on the wooden chair.

Harry tried to follow Bella's chair around the room, but she was too fast. "Bella, get down!" He shouted.

Bella giggled even more and stared at the door of the Gryffindor common room. After a few moments, the door flung open and Bella flew threw the opening, out into the halls.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Harry shouted. Hermione and Ron broke out into a run after him.

Bella was soaring wildly threw the halls. She was giggling as she turned every corner. "I'm flying!" She squealed, completely delighted.

As the trio ran as fast as they could, Ron shouted to Hermione, "Use your wand! Get her down!"

Hermione grabbed her wand from her pocket and pointed it at Bella's chair. "_Wingardium Leviosa!_" She shrieked.

Bella's chair halted to a stop in midair, then started to slowly hover upwards. Bella let out a tiny squeal and grasped the edges of her chair so she wouldn't go flying forward. The trio ran up to her and jumped up, trying to grab a leg of the chair. Ron managed to grasp one, since he was the tallest, and he pulled Bella's chair back to the ground.

"Bella!" Hermione squeaked, as she panted for breath. "What was that about? You – you could have gotten hurt!"

"You scared us to death, Bella!" Harry stated seriously. Bella looked at each one of them and noticed how unhappy they were. For once, Bella wasn't smiling. Her eyes started to get puffy and she looked down at her shoes. "I just wanted to fly."

"Well don't do it anymore!" Ron shouted, completely annoyed that he had to run through half of Hogwarts to catch her. When Bella burst into tears, Hermione kicked Ron in the shin.

"It's alright, Bella," Hermione soothed as she stroked Bella's hair. "We're not angry with you. Just try not to do it again, alright?"

Bella lifted her tear stained face and looked up at them. She sobbed, "I – I – I just wanted t – to fly!" She hid her face in her tiny hands and continued to cry.

"What's going on over here?" A voice echoed behind Harry. They spun around and noticed Lupin standing there, his arms folded across his chest.

"It's nothing, Professor." Harry replied.

Lupin's eyebrows narrowed as he looked down at Bella, who was still sobbing and sitting in the chair. "Oh really? Then why is Bella crying?"

The three students were silent as Lupin picked Bella up and held her in his arms. She cried on his shoulder. Lupin stroked her hair and glared at the students. "I want an explanation."

Hermione looked at Harry and Ron and sighed. Since they weren't going to say anything, Hermione said, "Professor, Bella has just started her wand less magic. She was flying around on a chair, and we were trying to get to her before she got hurt."

"And is that why she is crying? Did she get hurt?" Lupin asked seriously.

"No. We told her not to do that again. She's just upset." Harry told him.

Lupin considered this for a moment and rocked Bella gently in his arms. Her sobs started to subside. "You say she just started to use magic?"

The trio nodded and Lupin continued, "Maybe I should contact Severus. He'll know what to -"

"No!" The three students shouted at the same time. Lupin raised his eyebrows at them. "Why not?"

"Just – well. . ." Ron trailed off and eyed Hermione. He continued, "You shouldn't disturb him while he's away on business, Professor. I mean, he's busy. He doesn't have the time to worry about Bella right now, I'm sure."

Lupin frowned and was silent for a moment. Then he said, "You're going to have to teach her how to control her magic. I won't contact Severus now, but if things get completely out of hand, well, you know what I have to do." The trio nodded. Lupin continued, "You need to keep an eye on her at all times. She's just a child. Since she has just discovered how to use her magic, she'll be more likely to get hurt. Especially since her father isn't around."

"We understand, Professor." Hermione nodded. "We'll try to be more careful."

Lupin smiled and told them, "I told Severus that you three would be very responsible while watching over Bella."

Bella's tears had stopped completely and she announced, "Sowwy everyone. I won't do it again!"

"That's a good girl." Lupin smiled at Bella and kissed the top of her head. She giggled as he set her down.

"You three can go back to the common room. I'll see you at dinner." Lupin nodded in their direction and walked towards his classroom.

"Ron, will you carry that chair?" Hermione nodded towards the chair as she held onto Bella's hand. "Let's go."

Ron rolled his eyes and picked up the wooden chair. Once they all reached the common room, Bella plopped down on a couch. "I'm tired, Mione."

"How about a nap?" Hermione asked. Bella smiled and extended her arms up toward Hermione, indicating that she wanted her to pick her up. Hermione did so and walked up to the girls dormitories, as Bella dozed in her arms.

Harry and Ron sat down on the same couch. "What now?" Ron asked. "There's nothing to do."

"I suppose we could get started on our school work." Harry suggested.

Ron looked at him and shook his head. "No way. I want to forget about school work for a few days."

Once Hermione came down the stairs, she announced, "Bella's sleeping. I guess we have a few hours to burn."

Hermione sat down in a chair in front of the fire and let out a small sigh. "What should we do now?"

Ron and Harry both shrugged. "We still have a few hours before dinner, so I guess we could just wait." Ron proposed.

"I can't sit here for two hours." Hermione stated. She got up from her chair and walked toward the stairs that led to the girls dormitories. "I'm going to get started on those assignments."

When Hermione disappeared up the steps, Ron asked Harry, "What about a game of Wizard Chess?"

Harry shrugged and nodded. After Ron set up the game, they started to play. After a few moments Ron asked, "I wonder who Bella's mum is?"

Harry stared at the chess board for a while and then said, "You know, you're right. I've been wondering that too. Snape never mentions her, and neither does Bella."

"Should we ask Bella about her?" Ron asked.

"No." Harry replied. "She might be dead, for all we know."

"You're right." Ron shrugged. But after a few moments of continuing their chess game, Ron piped, "Snape doesn't seem like the kind of person to go off and get married. Then have a kid."

Harry chuckled. "You're right. Who'd fall in love _with him, _anyway?"

"He probably put her under a love potion." Ron joked, then laughed.

All of a sudden, a loud voice boomed behind them. Harry and Ron shouted and fell off their chairs, taking the table and chess board down with them.

"For your information, she wasn't under a love potion." A familiar voice sneered. Ron and Harry looked behind them. A fire had started in the fire place, and the face of Severus Snape was shaped in the flames.

"P – P – Professor?" Ron squeaked.

"Indeed it is, Mr. Weasley. I came to check on Bella."

"Bella's sleeping, Professor." Harry muttered.

"Is she alright?" He glared dangerously at them. Harry and Ron nodded, still shaking a bit from the scare.

"Well I'll be going then." He paused for a moment and then continued, "Remember, if I come back and she's sick to her stomach or -"

"She's fine, Professor." Harry stated. "Really. She is. You don't have to worry about her."

Snape glared at Harry then replied, "She better be. I'll check back later in the week." Snape was about to leave when he noticed the look on Harry and Ron's face. It looked as if they were hiding something.

"What happened?" Snape boomed.

"W – what do you mean, sir?" Ron asked, casting nervous glances at Harry.

"You two are hiding something." Snape spat. "Don't lie to me."

"But Professor – we didn't. . . nothing happened. Every thing's fine." Harry stuttered.

Snape didn't have time for an argument. He let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Fine. I'm leaving now. I'll check back later on. Goodnight." Before Harry and Ron could respond, the fire in the Gryffindor common room went out and Snape's face was gone.

"Bloody hell." Ron whispered, and got to his feet. "Should we have told him about Bella's wand less magic?"

"I don't know." Harry shrugged, and stood up to join him. "We better just keep it to ourselves for now."

"Right." Ron nodded. "Was he listening to our conversation?"

"I think so. He got pretty angry when we insulted his wife. Or – erm – the lady who had his child. When we were talking about the love potion and everything."

"But that means he has a wife." Ron stated. "Or, he _had_ a wife."

"Yeah." Harry responded. "I wonder who it was?"

* * *

That evening at dinner, Harry and Ron told Hermione of their encounter with Professor Snape. Hermione only shook her head and replied, "I don't know if we should tell him about Bella's use of magic or not. If we tell him, it might be easier for us. He might come home and watch her." 

"I don't think we should." Harry said. "If we bother him, he'll hate us all even more."

"True." Ron agreed. Hermione rolled her eyes and then started a new conversation. It was a few minutes later when Bella pointed to a blond boy over at the Slytherin table.

"Who's that?" Bella questioned, staring at him eagerly.

Harry craned his neck and responded, "That's Draco Malfoy. You don't want to get involved with him, Bella. Why do you ask?"

Bella smiled and blushed. "He's cute!"

Hermione started to choke on her pumpkin juice, Ron roared with laughter, and Harry stared awkwardly at Bella. He exclaimed, "You're only three-years-old!"

Bella burst into a fit of giggles.


	4. Humperdink

**A/N: **Thanks for all the lovely reviews! I watched _The Princess Bride_ with my friend the other day and I thought a certain name was funny. I put it in this chapter, see if you can find it! Swimming practice has started so I'm trying to find some time to write more. And now high school starts soon! Grrrr. But don't worry, I'm still finishing this story.

**.the.artful.dodger.v2 **- Thanks bunches! By the way, I like your pen name. If it has anything to do with the musical, _Oliver!_, I was in that show, hehe.

**Julianne X. **- I agree also, I don't want Bella to be too annoyingly cute. But I do like it how she's so different from Snape's character, I think it's funny, hehe. Thanks for the tip, and I'm glad you like the story so far!

**mondtaenzerin** - Thank you, and don't worry, I'll keep it going!

**Sparrowsgurl1023** - Why hello there, I'm glad you like it so far! And as for the picture...(cough) let's keep that a secret, shall we? Hehe.

* * *

Bella continued to stare at Draco Malfoy. Hermione kept ordering Bella to finish her dinner, but Bella wouldn't listen. "Can I go say hi to him?" Bella asked sweetly.

"No." Ron replied, stuffing a forkful of chicken in his mouth.

Bella frowned at him and tugged on Hermione's sleeve. "Mione, pwease?"

Hermione laughed nervously and told Bella, "You shouldn't. He's not a very nice person." She glared over in Draco's direction.

Bella pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. She was angry that Ron and Harry kept laughing, and that Hermione wouldn't let her go talk to him. Finally, Bella decided to make a move. She quickly got out of her seat, and despite the trio's protest, Bella ran over to the Slytherin table. She smiled shyly when she reached Draco, and tugged on his sleeve.

"Hi!" Bella said sweetly.

A few conversations ended and the group that surrounded Draco stared at Bella. Draco took one look at Bella, then looked for the faces of Harry, Ron and Hermione. They had stopped eating and were staring wide-eyed at Bella.

Draco was about to tell her to go back with her friends when he remembered that this was the daughter of Professor Snape. "Hello there. What's your name?" Draco asked, even though he already knew. "Getting bored of Potter over there?"

Bella shook her head. "No. I came to say hi!"

Some of the Slytherin girls pointed at Bella and whispered, "Aw," to each other. Pansy Parkinson, whom was one of the girls giggling, said to Draco, "Have her sit next to you, Draco."

Draco pushed Crabbe over and patted his seat. "Sit down, Bella."

Bella eagerly took the seat and was pawned over by the Slytherin girls. Meanwhile back at the Gryffindor table, Ron asked nervously, "What do we do?"

"I don't know!" Harry exclaimed. "Wait! I have an idea. Ron, go over there and bring her back!"

"_Me?_" Ron squeaked. "Why can't you do it?"

"You two are ridiculous." Hermione told them. "She'll come back here soon enough." Hermione kept taking glances over at Bella, who seemed to be having a good time at the Slytherin table with Draco and his friends.

Fifteen minutes passed, and students were leaving from dinner. Half of the Slytherin table was gone, except Draco and his friends.

"Maybe we should go get her now." Hermione added nervously. Bella was giggling and playing with her food.

"Yeah, I guess." Ron said. "Hermione, go over there."

Hermione shot him a glare and said, "Ronald Weasley, you're coming with me!"

Just then, Draco and his friends all stood up to leave the Slytherin table. Draco was holding Bella's hand, and they started to walk away.

Hermione's eyes shot open. "Come on, you two!" She exclaimed, jumping from her chair. The trio ran over to Draco and Hermione asked, "What do you think you're doing?"

Draco sneered at Hermione and replied, "Bella wants to see the Slytherin common room. Is that so bad?"

"Yeah, it is." Harry piped up. He tugged Bella's hand away from Draco's and continued, "Leave her alone."

"You three are the ones who let her come to me!" Draco thundered. "I say we see what Bella wants to do." Draco bent down and asked Bella, "Would you rather go with these losers, or come to the cool Slytherin common room, which you have never seen before?"

Bella pondered this for a moment. "I wanna see the Slytherin common room. . ." Bella said softly. "But my fwends aren't losers!" She yelled to Draco.

Draco stood up. "Fine. Your loss." He gestured to his friends, and the group of Slytherins walked away.

"You did the right thing, Bella." Hermione smiled. Bella giggled and motioned her arms up to Hermione. Hermione picked her up and they all walked to the Gryffindor common room.

That evening in the Gryffindor common room, students were cooing over Bella and playing games with her. Harry, Hermione and Ron relaxed in lounge chairs near the fire.

"Well, tomorrow's Tuesday. What should we do then?" Harry asked, trying to doze off in his comfortable chair.

"Bella will think of a game." Ron responded, trying to do exactly what Harry was. Hermione was too engrossed with a book to hear their conversation.

A few minutes later, students were getting ready to go up to their dorm rooms and sleep. Harry and Ron had fallen asleep in front of the fire place, and Hermione was still reading her book. Bella had crawled over to Hermione's chair, and was eating a few Chocolate Frogs she had received.

Hermione literally jumped out of her seat when the antique clock chimed for nine 'o' clock. Bella giggled, and Hermione steadied herself and woke up Harry and Ron.

"Come on you two, let's get to bed."

Harry and Ron rubbed their eyes and yawned as they slowly got up from their lounge chairs. Hermione held Bella's hand as they walked up to the girl's dorm rooms.

"Wait here, I have to put Bella to bed." Hermione told Harry and Ron. They nodded and plopped back down into their chairs.

Once Hermione reached her room, she cast a spell on her bed in order to duplicate it, and shoved the bed so it was next to hers.

"Here's your bed, Bella." Hermione smiled. Bella had crawled into her pajamas and hopped onto the bed. Hermione was about to turn around and leave when Bella shouted, "Mione! Aren't you staying?" Bella's lip quivered a bit, as if she was frightened.

"I'll be right back. I need to talk to Harry and Ron." Hermione assured her. Once Hermione was about to step out the door, Bella started to cry hysterically. Hermione rushed over to her and cried, "Bella! What is it?"

"I – I – I -" Bella sniffled. "I forgot Humperdink!"

Hermione almost started to giggle, but held it back. _Humperdink? _"Who's Humperdink?" Hermione asked.

"He's – he's my stuffed frog! My d – d – daddy got him for me!"

"Where's Humperdink now?"

"He's – he's in my r – r – room! In daddy's ch – chambers!" Bella cried even louder. "He's all alone!"

"Don't worry, I'll go and get Humperdink. For now, you need to try and sleep. Alright?"

Bella nodded and Hermione stroked her hair. Bella whispered as she started to calm down, "Thanks Mione. You're my bestest fwend!"

Hermione smiled and squeezed Bella's hand. She walked back into the common room and found Harry and Ron, who had fallen back asleep on their chairs.

"Wake up!" Hermione said, and punched them both playfully in the arms. They both gave out a low cry and fluttered their eyelids open.

"I was having a good dream." Ron mumbled as he rubbed his arm in the place Hermione had punched him.

"Well we have a bigger problem." Hermione crossed her arms over her chest. "Bella left Humperdink -"

Harry burst into a wild fit of laughter and Ron smiled, "Humperdink? _Humperdink?_ What the bloody hell is a Humperdink?"

Hermione almost laughed herself, but she knew they had business to take care of. "Anyway," She repeated over Harry's laughter. "I promised Bella I'd go get Humperdink for her. It's her stuffed Frog. She started crying and told me she missed him."

"Well go get it then." Ron told her.

Hermione glared at him and replied, "I can't, _Ronald._ Remember what Snape said? He said he was packing a bag for Bella so we didn't have to go in his private quarters."

Harry thought about this for a moment and asked, "How are we supposed to get in? All I know is that Snape's room and office are in the dungeons."

"Yeah." Ron nodded. "We could use Harry's invisibility cloak."

Hermione beamed at him. "Great idea!" But then she frowned. "All three of us are too big to fit under that cloak. We're not first years anymore." She paused for a moment and then continued, "Harry and Ron. You two will go."

"Why us?" Ron asked. "Why can't you go?"

"I need to keep an eye on Bella. Besides, you two will be able to find it."

So it was settled. Harry went to fetch his invisibility cloak and Hermione went upstairs to check on Bella. Ron and Harry quickly got under the cloak and roamed into the dark halls. It took them a while to find the dungeons, seeing as how Harry forgot to bring the Marauders Map and he didn't dare put on light from his wand, in case Filch should be lurking about.

Once Harry and Ron stood in front of the door, Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it to the doorknob. "_Alohamora._" Harry whispered. The knob didn't budge.

"It must be blocked against _Alohamora._" Ron suggested.

"You think?" Harry let out an exasperated sigh. "Wait, I think Hermione taught me a spell once. It's to unlock doors that are blocked against the _Alohamora_ spell. What was it?" Harry pondered this over in his head a moment before muttering a few words, and the doorknob finally turned.

"Hurry up," Ron whispered, and they both quickly went into Snape's room.

The room was filled with black, green, and silver furnishings. "Figures." Ron spat. Ron eventually spotted Bella's room and quickly walked inside. Harry lurked curiously around Snape's room for a while. He went up to his bed and noticed a picture frame on the bedside table. It was a picture of a woman. With bright green eyes and soft red hair, she was smiling and laughing in the fall afternoon. Leave flew about her as she danced and waved at the camera.

"Hey Harry, I found Humperdink!" Ron suddenly exclaimed from behind him. Humperdink was a bright green frog wearing a gold crown and a purple cape.

"Great. Come here for a second." Harry motioned to Ron. He stepped over and asked eagerly, "Who's that?"

"Dunno." Harry said. "Maybe it was Snape's wife?"

"Could be." Ron considered. "She looks just like Bella. I wonder what else he's got around here."

Harry and Ron eagerly searched through Snape's room. They didn't find much of interest until Harry found Snape's study. It was filled with cauldrons and potion flasks. On his desk was even more pictures of the woman with red hair, including a few of Bella.

"Maybe he's stalking her." Ron suggested. They both chuckled and found the invisibility cloak, put it on, and walked back up to the Gryffindor tower. Once they reached the common room, they found Hermione dozing off in a lounge chair in front of the fire place. Ron nudged her and she quickly opened her eyes.

"I wasn't sleeping!" She cried.

"Oh, we know Hermione." Ron grinned. "We found Humperdink."

"That's great!" Hermione smiled. She grasped Humperdink from Ron's hand and said, "I'm going to take this up to Bella. See you tomorrow." Hermione disappeared up the stairs. Harry and Ron did the same.

The next morning at breakfast while Harry and Ron were eating savagely from the table, Hermione was tired and exhausted. "She kicks. A lot." Hermione explained.

"What we gonna do today?" Bella asked, not hearing Hermione's comment. She nibbled on her buttered toast and looked up eagerly at the trio.

"Whatever you feel like doing, Bella." Harry answered her. Bella only frowned and said, "But I don't know what I wanna do!"

"Just think about it. There's a lot to do, I'm sure." Harry replied back. For the rest of breakfast, Bella was silent, thinking about what to do for the day. Hermione almost fell asleep on her oatmeal, and Harry and Ron talked about their missed lessons.

"We're not going to know what's going on next week. I guarantee it. It's not like the assignments are going to help us, either." Harry said.

After a few moments of silence, Bella exclaimed, "I know!" Hermione's eyes popped open and her head flew up in shock. Harry and Ron stared at her. "I wasn't sleeping!" Hermione exclaimed.

Ron only chuckled and answered, "Oh yes, Hermione. We know."

Bella exclaimed once more, "I know what to do!"

"What's that, Bella?" Harry asked.

"We go outside and play!" Bella pointed to the windows in the Great Hall. It wasn't snowing, and the tree branches weren't blowing. It was a nice day for the winter time.

"Sounds good." Harry nodded. "Hermione, we're allowed to go on the grounds, right?"

"Right. Well, I think so. The teachers know we're watching Bella. It shouldn't be a problem." She responded. She started to take a few more swallows of her oatmeal.

After breakfast, Harry and Ron walked up to the boys dormitories in order to put on their snow clothing. Hermione took Bella up the stairs and dressed her like Snape would have done. Bella was so full of clothing she could only wobble. Hermione yawned and quickly dressed herself.

Once they were all outside, Bella ran over to an area where there were no trees. "Snowman! Snowman!" She shouted as she started to roll up a big ball of snow.

Harry and Ron eagerly joined her, happy that they didn't have to be in classes and were instead having fun outdoors. "Harry can make the head!" Bella said. "Ron can make the tummy, and I'll make the butt!"

"I think it's called the '_bottom half_'." Ron corrected, not really knowing what the 'bottom half' of the snowman was suppose to be called.

Hermione just stood there watching them, yawning every two seconds. "You know, I think I'm going to head back to the common room and work on our assignments. I need some sleep, too."

"You'll be back, won't you?" Ron's eyes grew wide. If Hermione was gone and Bella decided it would be funny to fly away on another chair again, he didn't know what would have to be done.

"Yeah, sure. Later." Hermione waved at them and walked slowly back to the castle.

"She really must not have slept last night." Harry commented, smoothing out the middle half of the snowman with his gloved hand.

"I know! Usually we're the ones falling asleep during the day."

Once the snowman was finished, Bella asked, "What should we name him?"

"How about. . . Tom?" Harry asked. Ron laughed, "Tom?"

"I know! We'll name him Howie." Bella smiled, and patted Howie on the tummy.

"Howie it is, then." Harry laughed. "What now?"

"Snowball fight!" Bella clapped, then ran over a few feet to another area where fresh snow blanketed the ground. "I make a fort!"

Ron chucked. "Alright. Let's be on teams. Who do you want on your team, Bella? Me or Harry?"

Bella looked back and forth at the boys and shook her head. "I wanna be alone."

Ron raised his eyebrows. "You sure, Bella? I mean, we're pretty good snowball players. . . you might just get beaten."

Bella giggled and said, "No, you stink at snowball!"

Ron's jaw dropped and Harry started to laugh. "It's on then!" Ron cried. He rushed over a few feet across from Bella and hurriedly started to build a snow fort. Harry joined in.

After forty five minutes, Bella's snow fort was complete. Since she was smaller, her fort didn't need to be too tall. She was now quickly making snow balls of different sizes and piling them up in her fort. Harry and Ron were still trying to make their fort taller.

"I'll finish the fort. You can start making the snowballs. It's getting cold out here." Harry shivered. Ron nodded and went off to collect snow balls. After quickly throwing some snow on the top of their fort wall, Harry declared that he was finished with it and started to help Ron with snow balls.

Ron smiled at the large snowballs he made and walked over to Bella. "How are you coming along with -" He stopped and stared blankly at the snowballs in Bella's fort. She must have had over fifty snow balls of different sizes. She smiled up at him, "Yes?"

"How – how -" Ron stuttered. "How did you learn to make snowballs so fast?"

Bella shrugged. "Dunno. Ready?"

Ron gulped and nodded. He had a strange sensation that he was going to be beaten by a three-year-old.


	5. Bath Time

**A/N:** Once again, sorry for not updating sooner! This chapter is a little short. I always try to update within a week, but it's been a bit longer. I hope this chapter is satisfying, I think it's pretty good. I hope for it to get a lot funnier, and I'm trying to think of more ideas. But hey, if anyone has a funny suggestion you think Bella should do, let me know! I am always open for suggestions like that. And maybe if it's good enough, I'll put it in the story! And remember - reviews keep me going!

**Julianne X. **- Ooh, why thank you! And I'm glad you liked the Humperdink thing. I watched _The Princess Bride_ and for some reason that name made me laugh so hard.

**SkyflowerRose** - That's a good question, and I'd really like to explain it but I don't know how yet. I was thinking of just letting the question hang around - _Who is Bella's mother? _But I think I sort of like it like that, but I also want to explain it. Hopefully in a later chapter. Hope I'm not too confusing, hehe. Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it so far!

**PirateGirlForever **- Ahh, that is so cool that you have a cousin named Bella! I wonder - does she have a stuffed animal named Humperdink? Hehe, probably not, but hey, she might!

**Djorlcc **- I'm definately glad you liked the chapter! I hope to make it a lot funnier. I'm very happy you liked it though, thank you!

**tiffyrose **- Heck yes she is! Hehe. Thanks for the review!

**Molly Jane** - Why hello there, Molly Jane. I wonder if I know you in real life? Hmm. . . nope, your name doesn't ring a bell. . . haha, just kidding! GASP! Davy Jones said he loved my work? (faints)

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"What are we supposed to do?" Ron asked. "Do we hit her with a snow ball or not? If we hit her too hard, she might go crying to Snape, and he'll kill us! We'll fail all of our Potions assignments for the rest of the school year."

"Just take it easy on her." Harry whispered back. "Hit her fort or the trees behind her or something."

"Got it." Ron nodded. "Hey Bella!" Ron shouted, looking over their fort at Bella. "We've decided to take it easy on you and -"

Just then, a snowball hit Ron right smack dab in the middle of his face. Ron winced and ducked back down. "She's a demon!" He whispered, as the cold snow seeped onto his skin.

Another snow ball flew past their heads, and Harry quickly looked over their fort to see fifty of Bella's snowballs flying in midair. She was smiling. "One point for me!"

"She's using her wand less magic again." Harry ducked back down and told Ron, just before a large snow ball hit Harry in the face.

Ron grasped a snowball and threw it as hard as he could. It hit Bella in the chest. She made two more snowballs and flung them right back at Ron. They hit him in the face.

"I think I'm actually starting to get scared." Ron told Harry. Harry only laughed and responded, "Well come on! When do we ever have good snowball fights like this?"

"Harry, should I remind you that she's _three-years-old_! It's not humanly possible for a three-year-old to make fifty snowballs that quick." Another snow ball flew past their heads. "Or throw them so hard."

Harry and Ron both started to whip their snowballs in Bella's direction. They purposely missed her, just in case she got hurt. But Bella sure wasn't minding if she hit Harry or Ron in the face. Bella giggled and squealed, "I'm having so much fun!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Ron mocked under his breath, then started to pack up snow and make another snow ball.

As Harry was getting ready to aim, he noticed that an extremely large snowball was floating above Bella's head. She was looking at it and smiling.

"Look at my snowball, Harry!" Bella squealed excitedly.

"Um. . . that's great. . ." Harry mumbled. He dropped the snowball he was about to throw and ducked for cover. "Ron, get down!" Harry tugged on Ron's sleeve. But before Ron could jerk his head to look at Harry, the large snowball that was floating above Bella's head came crashing down upon his. Bella started to laugh uncontrollably, as did Harry.

Ron sat as if paralyzed as the cold snow seeped down his clothes and onto his face. After a few moments, he shook his head quickly in order to get some of the snow out of his hair.

"I win!" Bella danced happily. With all her clothes packed onto her, she once again looked like a little penguin.

"You sure did." Ron groaned, as he tried to swipe the rest of the snow from his coat.

"Let's go inside and get some cocoa." Harry suggested. Ron agreed quickly and Bella responded, "Yummy!"

As they were walking towards the castle, an unexpected snow storm started to occur. The three ran quickly to the castle and once they entered it, they let out a sigh of relief.

"Warm. . . warm. . ." Ron kept muttering to himself as they walked up to the Gryffindor tower.

"I'm tired, Harry." Bella let out a tiny yawn.

"You can take your afternoon nap, we need some rest too." Harry assured her.

"Where's Mione?" Bella asked.

"She's in the common room." Harry answered. Once they reached the portrait of the fat lady, Harry gave the password, and they all walked in.

The common room was dark except for a large fire going in the fire place. Ron rushed to it quickly and sighed happily. Behind him, Hermione was reading a book. Next to her was a tissue box, and a trash can filled with used tissues.

Hermione let out a sneeze and quickly grabbed a tissue. She threw it into the trash can when she was finished. "Hermione," Harry asked, and sat down next to her. Bella went to sit by Ron. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine. Completely fine. Why do you ask?" Hermione let out another sneeze.

"You seem. . . well, sick."

Hermione sighed and replied, "Fine. I won't lie to you. I think I'm catching a cold. Lavender Brown has one, and I think I caught it from her."

Ron whirled around. "But Hermione! You still have to help us with Bella! We can't do it alone."

"I know, Ron. Don't worry about it. But I don't want any of you catching it."

"Mione, I'm tired!" Bella yawned once more. She crawled onto Hermione's lap and rested her head on her shoulder.

"Let's get you to bed for a nap." Hermione replied. She set her book down upon the coffee table and took Bella to bed.

Ron kept sighing happily every few seconds as he sat in front of the fire place. "I've never gotten hit with so many snow balls. Well, usually Fred and George are pretty good at making them, but not as fast as Bella can!"

Harry grinned. "Maybe she inherited it from Snape."

Ron let out a chortle and said, "Yeah! Imagine Snape having snow ball fights when he was a kid."

Once Hermione had come back into the common room, she plopped down on her lounge chair and said casually, "You two will have to give Bella a bath tonight."

Harry stopped grinning and Ron spun around. "_What?_" He exclaimed. "We can't do that!"

Hermione glared at them and said, "She stinks to high heaven. When I was tucking her in I smelled her. She must have sweat a lot when you were having that snowball fight. By the way, was it fun?"

"If you call getting hit in the face with a hundred snowballs fun, then yes Hermione, it was a blast." Ron spat. He got up from his position before the fire and laid down on the sofa.

"But Hermione," Harry brought back the previous subject. "We – we can't give Bella a bath! Why can't you do it?"

"I'm sick, remember? Besides, it won't be difficult. Just put her in the tub and make sure she's clean."

"Does Snape give her baths often?" Ron asked.

"Probably." Hermione looked at their nervous faces and exclaimed, "Oh, stop worrying, you two! I'll try to help you if I can."

"Please do." Ron moaned, and closed his eyes. Hermione let out another sneeze.

After a quick dinner, Harry and Ron took Bella back up to the common room for her bath. They were not looking forward to it.

"I've never given a three-year-old a bath before," Ron muttered grumpily. "Have you?"

Harry shook his head and Ron continued, "Why can't Hermione just do it?"

"She's sick. The last thing we want is for Bella to catch a cold." Harry remarked. Ron shrugged and they entered the common room. Hermione had skipped dinner and had instead fallen asleep in her chair in front of the fireplace.

Bella had darted up the stairs to the girls dormitories to fetch Humperdink. Harry poked Hermione in the arm and then shook her gently. "Hermione, wake up!"

Hermione woke up with a start and exclaimed, "What! What! What happened?" She panted. Ron grinned broadly and explained, "We're giving Bella a bath now. Ready?"

"Oh." Hermione blushed. "I was just – you know – in the middle of a dream." She got up and yawned, following Harry and Ron up the stairs. They entered a large bathroom.

"We better make this quick before the feast ends and everyone starts storming up here." Harry remarked. Ron nodded, and Hermione started the rushing water.

Bella came rushing in with Humperdink dangling from her hand. "Whatcha doin'?" She asked, swinging Humperdink from side to side.

"It's bath time for you." Ron told her.

Just then, Bella stopped swinging Humperdink. In fact, her smile faded and her entire face fell. She started to back away slowly from them. "No!" She shouted, then ran out the door.

"Go get her!" Hermione shouted, shooing Harry and Ron out the door. "We need to give her a bath!"

Harry and Ron chased Bella down the stairs. They managed to capture her before she climbed out of the portrait hole and carried her squirming little body back upstairs. "Come _on_, Bella!" Ron grunted as he tried to keep hold of Bella's wiggling body. "You need to take a bath. Or else when your dad comes home he'll know you smell like dung, and then he'll kill us, and then -"

"No!" Bella shrieked, trying to free herself from Ron and Harry's strong grip. "No bath!"

Harry and Ron dragged Bella into the bathroom and shut the door quickly behind them. The tub was now filled with water. Hermione was standing there, casually getting out some shampoo. She looked at them and said, "Well?"

"Well what?" Harry and Ron said at the same time.

Hermione sneezed and rolled her eyes. "Put her in the bath. Quickly!"

Once Bella heard this, she squealed and broke out into a run. Harry and Ron chased her for at least five minutes before they captured her and plucked her into the bath tub after awkwardly taking her clothes off. Bella shrieked and kept trying to climb out of the tub. "No bath! No bath!" She would yell.

Harry fumbled around for the shampoo, which had fallen in the tub. Bella managed to capture it first, and she threw it violently out of the tub. Harry went chasing after it.

"Why doesn't she like baths?" Ron yelled at Hermione, who was about to go back down into the common room.

"No three-year-old enjoys bath time, Ron." Hermione told him simply. "I'll be down in the common room."

Ron was about to object when Hermione left the room and sneezed a few seconds afterward. Harry came rushing back with the shampoo. "Where's the soap?" He asked.

"How should I know?" Ron panicked.

Harry sighed and rushed over to a small closet at the end of the room. It contained shampoo, conditioner, soap, and many other bathroom utensils.

"Hurry up!" Ron shouted as he was being splashed by Bella. Bella seemed to enjoy this, so she giggled and kept doing it. But when Ron tried to open the shampoo bottle, she screamed and threw it away from him. "_No!_" She yelled.

Harry came back with the soap and noticed Ron now trying to hold Bella down. "Wash her! Hurry!" He said. Harry grabbed a small washing cloth, wet it, then quickly scrubbed soap over it. He tried to rub it on Bella's shoulder, but she howled and snatched it from him. She once again threw it over his head.

"This is impossible!" Ron moaned. "Bella, hold still!"

"No!" Bella shouted again. She squealed and started to splash around wildly. "No bath!"

Harry quickly retrieved the cloth and whispered to Ron, "We need to take charge here, or this will never get done. How do you think Snape does this?"

"Hey Bella. Don't you let your dad give you baths?" Ron asked. Bella stared at him a moment and then nodded.

"Then what's wrong with us!" Ron exclaimed. "How would you like it if your dad found out that you wouldn't let us give you a bath? He'll be pretty angry."

Bella was about to say something, but she then pouted and started to cry. "Don't tell Daddy!"

"Then let's cooperate." Ron said. Bella said nothing and continued to cry silently.

Harry and Ron had now easily scrubbed Bella with soap and wet her hair. "Time for the shampoo." Harry said. But just as Harry was reaching for it, Bella let out a squeal of fright and knocked the shampoo bottle down. As Harry bent down to retrieve it, Bella splashed Ron and quickly rushed out of the bath tub. And before Ron or Harry could think, Bella had rushed down the stairs, completely naked.

Harry and Ron quickly stormed after her, but the Gryffindor common room was starting to be filled with students who were ready for relaxation. Some laughed when they noticed the naked three-year-old rush out of the portrait hole, others gasped in shock. Ron and Harry quickly followed after her.

"Where did she go!" Ron panicked. Bella was nowhere to be seen.

"Split up! If a teacher finds out that Bella is running around naked, we're dead!" Harry ran to his right, and Ron darted to his left. They were both running for a while before they eventually ran into each other.

"Did you find her?" Ron panted. Harry shook his head. "We have to keep looking."

Harry and Ron called out Bella's name, but they didn't hear her. "Where could she be?" Ron groaned.

Just then, they heard a girlish giggle. Harry and Ron both knew that giggle. They whirled around, and Bella was standing there, completely wet. "Come here!" Ron shouted, and tried to snatch at her. But Bella thought it was amusing to run around naked, so she continued to do it. Harry and Ron chased after her, and surprisingly, she was very fast.

Suddenly, Bella turned a corner and entered a classroom. It was Remus Lupin's classroom.

"Oh shit." Ron breathed. Harry and Ron ran into Lupin's classroom, and thankfully, nobody was present.

"Grab her!" Harry shouted. Ron and Harry split up and both tried to snatch at Bella. She suddenly screamed, "No more bath!" And was about to run out the door when she ran straight into Remus Lupin.

Harry and Ron froze. Bella exclaimed, "Hi!" and clearly Lupin was in shock. He spotted Harry and Ron and asked quietly, "What – is – going – on?"

Harry and Ron both tried to explain at the same time. "Professor, we were trying to give her a bath, but she didn't want one, and she ran out the door, and we had to chase her down!"

Lupin stared at them both for a moment. "Go back up to the common room _now_. I told you how I would need to inform Professor Snape if you two couldn't handle this -"

"No!" Harry and Ron shouted at the same time. Lupin raised his eyebrows. The boys continued, "We can do this, Professor! It won't happen again, we promise." And taking Bella quickly by the hand, they both rushed out of the room. Once they had entered the Gryffindor common room, students started to giggle at the naked Bella, who didn't seem to mind at all. Harry and Ron rushed her back up the bath tub.

Ron didn't even wait for Bella to squeal in protest. He picked her up and plopped her back into the bath tub. "No more funny business!" He exclaimed. But Bella seemed to have her share of fun, so she simply splashed around in the bath tub while Harry and Ron finished washing her.

"Do you think he's going to tell Snape?" Ron asked fearfully.

Harry shrugged. "Hopefully not."

When Harry and Ron had finished washing Bella, Hermione came in with some pajamas for her. Hermione dressed her carefully and they all walked back down into the common room. Bella started to play with Humperdink when Hermione suddenly exclaimed, "Harry! You have a Quidditch match tomorrow!"

Harry groaned and slapped his forehead. How could he forget? "Woah, thanks Hermione. I nearly forgot. It's Slytherin against Gryffindor, right?"

"What's Queerditch?" Bella asked.

"It's _Quidditch_, Bella, _Quidditch!_ Repeat after me. _Quidditch._" Ron told her. Bella kept repeating 'Queerditch', and eventually Ron gave up.

"You better win tomorrow, Harry." Hermione told him. "Nobody wants to see Slytherin win."

"Don't worry about it, Hermione." Harry told her. "I'm not about to let Malfoy catch that snitch."

Bella was clearly having enough of nobody explaining to her what Quidditch was, so she exclaimed, "WHAT'S QUEERDITCH?"

"Oh – it's only the best game in the world." Ron said.

"Yeah, it's really fun." Harry told her. "You'd like it."

"How do you play?" Bella asked.

"Oh – erm – well, there's a lot of balls involved. And you try to throw -" Harry scratched his head and said, "It's too long to explain. You'll see when you watch the game tomorrow."

When they all eventually went to sleep, Bella kept muttering to herself, "Queerditch, Queerditch." She was only too happy to watch the game tomorrow. She would bring Humperdink, too. He liked games.


	6. Pink Hair and Queerditch

**A/N:** I'm sorry that it's taking me so long to update! School has started, and I have swim practice everyday. Not to mention homework. I don't have a lot of time for anything anymore. But don't worry - I'm still finishing this story, no matter how long it takes. I'd really love more reviews though. This story is getting added to more favorites list then it is getting reviews, heh.

**tiffyrose - **Thanks for all your reviews! And yes, Humperdink _loves_ games, hehe.

**SkyflowerRose** - Haha, that would be funny if Bella just walked in on them. She'd probably be like, "WTF?" Thanks for your review!

**Sparrowsgurl1023 - **You are so weird. . . always talking about Lex Luthor. . . haha, just kidding. . . or am I?

**brenda-wood-sheil - **I must say, it's a mystery! I'm not sure how to approach the subject of Bella's mom yet, I might just leave it hanging around, hehe. But thanks for your lovely review!

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The next morning at the breakfast table, the Gryffindor Quidditch team was huddled around, talking about what strategy they would use in order to beat Slytherin. Bella kept asking questions such as, "What's the snitch?" and "What's a waffle? - I mean quaffle! Quaffle! What's a quaffle?" or "What does a bludger do? Can I have a bludger? _Pwease_?" It took some time to finally get Bella to stop talking.

Hermione was still feeling sick, but she promised she would go to the Quidditch game. She also didn't have a choice, really. Ron would probably lose Bella two seconds after he left the castle if Hermione wasn't around.

Hermione had once again dressed Bella in layers of winter clothes. She looked quite cute, the way she walked with the puffy coat on her body. She was also holding Humperdink in her right hand. "Humperdink likes games." She informed them, as if they really needed to know.

"Let's start walking down to the pitch," Ron told Hermione. "Before it starts getting packed." Hermione agreed, and holding onto Bella's free hand, they walked down to the Quidditch pitch.

"Where we goin'? Are we goin' to watch Queerditch?" Bella asked excitedly. When Hermione nodded after sneezing loudly a few times, Bella jumped up and down. Once they reached the stands, Bella tried to peer over the side, but she was too small. She started to jump, squirm, and grip tightly onto the railing, but it was no use.

"I can't see!" Bella exclaimed, once she heard the crowd cheering. The two teams had walked onto the field.

"Here, hold on tight!" Ron said, and crouching down, he let Bella climb onto his back. She was now sitting on his shoulders. She giggled happily.

After a few moments, the teams zoomed up into the air on their broomsticks. Bella gasped in amazement and pointed almost everything out to Ron and Hermione, even though they already knew what she was talking about. Bella said, "Look! Look! It's the waffle!"

"Quaffle." Ron corrected.

The Gryffindor's in the stands cheered loudly. Grydffindor had scored ten points. Bella, not knowing what was going on, cheered with them. "What happened?" She whispered in Ron's ear.

"Gryffindor scored – see? Katie Bell got a point -" Ron stopped and started to boo. Slytherin had just scored a point. Bella heard everyone booing, and quickly joined in.

"Come on, Harry!" Hermione murmured. "Find the snitch!"

Just then, to Bella's amusement, a tiny golden ball started to fly in front of her. "Snitchy!" She exclaimed. Ron looked at the snitch and tried to catch Harry's eye, but he was too busy trying to avoid Draco. But after a few moments, Harry seemed to recognize the golden ball, and he immediately flew after it. Draco flew straight behind him.

"COME ON, HARRY!" Hermione suddenly screamed. Ron staggered backwards a bit from her bellowing voice.

"Trying to blow my ears out, are you?" Ron asked, annoyed. Hermione shrugged and continued to cheer for Harry. It looked as if she had forgotten all about her cold.

The Gryffindor team watched in horror as both Harry and Draco's hand reached out for the snitch. But just then, Draco had kicked Harry in the stomach, and Harry skidded to the side. Harry was sure Draco was going to catch it, but alas, the snitch had disappeared again. The Gryffindors started to boo Draco very loudly. Bella joined in. "BOOOOOOO!" She screeched. Ron was beginning to think he was going deaf.

Harry angrily slid back on course. He needed to catch that snitch. The last thing he wanted was for Draco to catch it.

The Slytherins cheered. They had scored another ten points, leading them ahead of Gryffindor. Bella continued to boo. She waved Humperdink around frantically in the air. But she seemed to have whacked something out of the way. Bella looked up and noticed the golden snitch zooming around her.

"HARRY!" Bella shrieked. Harry, who had been sitting on his broom in front of the Gryffindor stands, whirled around and saw Bella waving her arms (and Humperdink) frantically around in the air. He thought she was just saying hi, and was about to turn around when he noticed the golden snitch flying about her. Harry flew toward it, his arm outstretched. He almost had it . . . _he almost had it_. . .

WHAM! Draco had collided once more with Harry. Harry quickly steadied himself and continued to fly toward the snitch.

"Out of my way, Potter!" Draco sneered, and kicked Harry once more in the stomach. But realizing what Draco was about to do, Harry held onto his broom tightly and reached for the snitch. He was brushing it with his fingers when Draco once again tried to beat him to it.

Just then, something had hit Draco on the head which made him lose control of his broomstick and fall backwards. He managed to grip on tightly to his broomstick but he was no longer on his broom. Instead, he was dangling from it. Harry grinned and looked down to see what had hit Draco.

_Humperdink_.

Harry couldn't help but laugh, and he looked over at Bella. Ron was grinning and giving Bella a high five, but Hermione looked worried, but somewhat amused. Just then, Harry noticed the golden snitch glimmering above him. Harry immediately chased after it.

Gryffindor had scored another point. But a few moments afterward, Slytherin had managed to score another one. Harry reached out for the snitch. There was no Malfoy this time to stop him. He snatched at it, but was unable to grasp it. _Come on. . .grab the snitch. . ._YES!

Harry had snatched for the snitch just in time. He waved it around in the air as the Weasley twins friend, Lee Jordan, who was doing the commentary yelled into the microphone, "YES! Gryffindor wins!"

The Gryffindors cheered loudly. Harry had zoomed back to the ground with his broomstick. Just then, the entire Gryffindor team, including some students from the stands, rushed over to Harry to congratulate him.

Harry spotted Ron, Hermione, and Bella also running over to him. Bella had exclaimed, "Yay! You won!"

"Hope she doesn't get in trouble for throwing Humperdink." Ron said worriedly, looking around nervously for any sign of a staff member. "But hey. . . all of a sudden she just waves him in the air and BAM! Hits Malfoy right in the face." Ron grinned.

Hermione beamed at Harry. "Congrat -" Hermione sneezed once more, and quickly slapped her hand over her nose. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a few tissues.

"You know, Hermione," Harry told her. "Maybe you should go to the hospital wing. Madame Pomfrey could cure you in a second."

Hermione shook her head. "No. It's just a silly cold. Besides, what do you think will happen if I leave you two alone with Bella? You two already had her running around naked!"

"Hey!" Ron protested. "That wasn't our fault!"

Once Hermione had rolled her eyes at him, they heard a holler. The trio spun around and noticed Madame Hootch, the flying teacher and Quidditch referee, trying to chase Bella around the field. Bella was holding the red quaffle in one hand, and Humperdink in the other.

"Bella! _Bella_!" Madame Hootch shouted. "Give that back!"

"No! My quaffle!" Bella shrieked.

Harry and Ron couldn't help but burst into a wild fit of laughter. It was quite amusing, watching Madame Hootch, a Hogwarts teacher, chase around a little three-year-old because she had stolen the quaffle.

"Oh, this is ridiculous." Hermione muttered, joining in the chase with Madame Hootch. Bella started to become worried that she wouldn't make it out of the field with the quaffle, so she broke into a faster run.

"We better grab her," Ron muttered, after calming down a bit from his laughter. Bella was about to run out of the field when Ron finally snatched her. Madame Hootch came up to him, panting for air, thanked him, and took the quaffle from Bella. Bella shouted, "MY QUAFFLE!"

"Calm down, Bella!" Harry told her. She was thrashing around in Ron's arms, attempting to break free and grab the quaffle once more.

Just then, Lupin walked over to Harry. He was smiling, and a spiky pink haired girl named Tonks was walking next to him. Bella noticed the girls hair and stopped squirming. She gasped in awe.

"Harry!" Lupin exclaimed. "Congratulations on another superb match."

Harry thanked him and said hello to Tonks, who also greeted Ron and Hermione. Bella stood up and said to Tonks, "Hi!" As she always did when she met someone.

Tonks looked down at her. "Oh, why hello there!" She said. Bella beamed at her. Tonks then looked over to Lupin and asked, "Remus, is this Snape's daughter?" Lupin nodded.

When Tonks said the word "Snape" Bella immediately exclaimed, "That's my daddy!"

Lupin smiled down at her and gingerly picked her up, now holding her in his arms. "How did you like the Quidditch match?" Lupin asked her. Bella immediately burst into a fit of giggles and said words like "boom," "snitch," "quaffle," and "boom." Lupin could hardly understand a word she was saying since she was speaking so fast. So he merely nodded and smiled.

"I agree completely." He said when she was finished. Bella was now staring at Tonks' pink hair. Without warning, Bella's hand reached out and touched Tonks' head.

"What? - Oh!" Tonks exclaimed fretfully, but then realizing it was only Bella, she smiled nervously.

"What are you doing, Bella?" Hermione asked. Bella said, "I want pink hair!"

"Hah!" Ron chuckled. "Imagine Snape coming home and realizing his three-year-old daughter has pink hair!"

Harry grinned at the thought. He could imagine Snape walking in, then spotting Bella with spiky pink hair, dancing all over the place with glee.

Once they had finished chatting with Lupin and Tonks for a while, they declared that they needed to go back up to the Gryffindor tower. For other students, they had an hour before classes started. As they made their way up to the castle door, Harry spotted Draco talking to the Slytherin team. Harry also noticed that they were standing very near to Howie, the snow man Ron, Bella, and himself had built the previous day.

"Stupid Potter – thinks he's so great – he had that stupid girl throw that damn frog at me!" Draco was shouting to the Slytherin captain. In Draco's anger, he had stomped over to Howie the snowman, and had kicked him very hard. Howie went toppling down to the ground.

Harry hoped Bella wouldn't notice this, but he was wrong. Bella let out a sob and immediately ran over to Draco.

"Bella, come back!" Hermione shouted fretfully. But they were too late. Bella had stormed over to Draco, and had punched him very hard in the -

"OUCH!" Ron and Harry yelled, with the rest of the Slytherin team. Draco fell to the snowy ground, clutching his groin in pain. "You killed Howie!" Bella was screaming at him, now trying to kick Draco in other places while he couldn't stop her.

A few members of the Slytherin Quidditch team grabbed Bella and hauled her off Draco. She was still kicking and squirming in the air. She was now sobbing.

"Hey, put her down!" Harry yelled. Noticing that it was Harry, the students holding Bella were about to drop her, but remembering whose daughter this was, they put her back gently on the ground.

Bella ran over to Howie and immediately tried to fix him. She started rolling up a snow ball, still crying, "You killed Howie!"

"Bella, we can fix Howie later." Ron said, casting nervous glances in the Slytherin's direction. "Let's go."

Since Bella refused, Harry and Ron had to haul her up back to the tower. Once they reached the common room, several students were there ready to congratulate Harry on another splendid Quidditch match. Bella, noticing all the yummy treats on the table, immediately stopped crying and rushed over to it.

"Well, that was easy." Ron said as he watched Bella stop crying and grab sweets from the snack table. Hermione just looked worried. "She shouldn't eat too much sweets – what if she has a sugar rush or something?"

"Oh please, Hermione." Ron told her simply. "Every kid needs sweets. She'll be fine."

Bella, indeed, loved sweets. And after about a half an hour of Ron, Harry, and Hermione forgetting about her, Bella had eaten all the candy she pleased. She was now jumping up and down all over the common room. "Let's play a game!" She exclaimed when the other students had left for their afternoon classes. Harry had changed out of his Quidditch robes and into a more comfortable sweater. Ron and himself were playing a game of wizards chess. Hermione was reading, and blowing her nose, in front of the fire.

Bella didn't wait for them to answer. Instead, she screamed and ran around the room happily, as if she were playing a game of tag all by herself.

"Bella, maybe you need a nap or someth -" Ron said, but Bella shrieked, "NO!" She continued to run around screaming as if someone was chasing her.

"Bella!" Hermione protested, slamming her book shut. "You'll disturb all the other classes. Keep your voice down!"

"But I wanna play!" Bella pouted.

"Well – then – um, go outside with Harry and Ron!" Hermione suggested at once.

"What?" Harry and Ron both turned to her.

"Yes." Hermione stared at them, simply glaring. "She can run around and scream as loud as she wants to. She can even fix Howie. Maybe you can go and visit Hagrid while you're at it, too."

Since Hermione had suggested this and Harry and Ron were about to ignore it, Bella went up to them and pulled on their sleeves. "C'mon! Outside!" Once again, before they could answer, Bella rushed upstairs for a few minutes. Hermione was about to chase after her when she came down, bundled up quickly in her coat, hat, mittens, and scarf. Since it was so poorly done, Hermione went up to her and fixed up her clothing.

Harry and Ron knew they could not ignore this, so they slouched off into the boys dorm and changed into their outdoor winter clothing.

Bella was so thrilled to be going outside again. She darted out the main door onto the grounds, leaving Harry and Ron to chase after her. For about fifteen minutes, Bella started to fix up Howie. Harry suggested another snow ball fight, but Ron nudged him in the stomach.

Bella was making about fifty snow angels when Harry and Ron suddenly became extremely bored. "Let's go see Hagrid." Ron suggested. They both agreed, and brought Bella over to Hagrid's hut.

Harry and Ron pounded on the door. "Hagrid, it's us!" Harry called out. But nobody answered the door. All they could hear was Fang throwing himself on the other side of the door, barking madly. After about ten minutes of this, Harry and Ron turned around. But what they saw made both of their eyes widen.

Bella was sitting there in the snow, making what looked like a snow castle. But that wasn't what was strange. Bella's hair, what used to be a nice curly red, was now pink and spiky. She had taken her hat off, which was now sitting on the ground next to her.

Harry and Ron couldn't speak for a moment. But then Harry finally said, "Bella – you're – you're _hair!_"

Bella giggled, touched her hair with her hand, and went back to building her snow castle. "How did you do that!" Ron suddenly exclaimed, horror struck.

"Pink hair!" Bella smiled. Ron gaped at her once more. "Well, I _can _see that!" He shouted.

"Bella, how did you do that?" Harry repeated Ron's question. Bella simply answered, "Wanted pink hair like Tonksies!"

Harry knew she meant Tonks, but how she managed to make her hair spiky and pink, Harry did not know. "Make it go back to normal!" He said. Bella shook her head. "Don't know how!"

Ron shouted once more, "What do you mean you _don't know how_? How the bloody hell did you manage to turn it _pink_?"

Bella smiled and said, "I wanted pink hair like Tonksies. So it went poof!" Harry and Ron just stared at each other.

"We're dead." Ron said simply as Harry and himself pulled Bella back to the Gryffindor tower.

Harry was about to agree with him, when he shook his head in disbelief and said, "No. Hermione will know how to get rid of it."

Once they entered the common room, they noticed Hermione doing her homework at a clean table. She looked at Bella and screamed.

"What did you do to her!" Hermione shouted at Harry and Ron. She pulled Bella's jacket, mittens, and scarf off. Bella told Hermione with excitement, "Look at my pink hair, Mione!"

Hermione continued to stare blankly at Harry and Ron. "Why would we turn her hair pink?" Ron shouted back. "You think we want Snape to poison us?"

Hermione silently agreed, but she did not admit it. Instead, she turned calmly back to Bella and said, "Bella, we _need_ you to turn your hair back to normal. _Please_."

Bella only shrugged and said, "Don't know how!" Just then, Bella did something that Ron, Harry, and Hermione hoped she would never do. She sneezed.

"No!" Hermione shouted, running over to a tissue box. "Oh no, this can't be happening!"

"Don't tell me she has a cold." Harry said in disbelief. Bella sneezed once more.

"No – no – you're wrong!" Ron stated. "She's been outside for a long time. She's not sick. She's just – well, cold."

Hermione handed the tissue box to Bella, who took it and wiped her small red nose with it. Bella suddenly looked extremely tired. "Mione," She said. "I don't feel good."

"This is mad!" Ron shouted, and fell right onto the sofa. Harry said, "She can't have a cold. No, she doesn't. That's final." But when Harry took another look at Bella, she looked as if she was about to puke all over the place.

"It must be from all that candy she ate!" Ron said, suddenly glowing. "See? She doesn't have a cold. She just had too much candy."

But just as Hermione was about to take Bella upstairs into the girls dorm, Bella puked, without warning, all over the floor.

Ron, Harry and Hermione all stared at Bella (and the puke) in terror. After Bella had started to cry, however, a fire in the fire place had immediately started to spark up. Their faces darted over to the fireplace. In the flames, they could see the face of Severus Snape forming.

"Get her out of here!" Ron hissed at Hermione. Instantly, Hermione grabbed Bella and hauled her upstairs, as Bella managed to get a little more puke on the carpet.

"Good evening." Snape's cold voice filled the common room. Harry and Ron laughed nervously.


	7. A Spooky Story

**A/N: **Why do I always keep you lovely readers waiting for so long? I have no idea. School is a drag, swim practice everyday, blah, blah, blah. You know the drill. Hope you all like this chapter! There should be a few more left and then it'll be finished.

* * *

"Um. . . hello, Professor." Harry responded, staring into the eyes of Severus Snape that hovered in the fireplace.

"I told you I would come back later in the week to check on Bella." Snape's eyes narrowed as they darted from Harry to Ron. "I'd like to see her."

"Well. . . you see," Ron said nervously, not meeting Snape's eyes. "She's sleeping."

Snape raised his eyebrows. "Sleeping? She was sleeping last time I checked, was she not?"

"Well, yeah, she was. . ." Harry continued nervously. "You always come when she's sleeping."

For a moment, Snape acted as though he did not believe a word of what Harry and Ron were saying. But then he continued, "Fine. I'll be back tomorrow to check on her. Same time, same place."

Before Harry and Ron could open their mouths to respond, the face of Severus Snape disappeared and the flames were gone. After a few moments of silence, Ron shouted, "_Tomorrow_? And what are we suppose to do if we can't get her hair back to normal!"

"What if she keeps puking all over the place?" Harry asked frantically. Harry expected Ron to agree, but he suddenly started laughing. "What are you laughing at?" Harry asked, a bit annoyed.

"I was just thinking -" Ron chuckled. "Wouldn't it be funny if Snape's head was in the fire, and then Bella puked on him and the fire extinguished?" Ron burst into a fit of laughter. Harry tried not to laugh, but couldn't help it.

A few moments later, they heard a sneeze and looked up. Hermione was walking down the stairs. "Well?" She asked them. "What did Snape want?"

"He said he's coming back tomorrow to check on Bella. Same time, same place." Harry responded after he had stopped laughing.

Hermione's eyes almost popped out of her head. "B – but – but – what if her hair doesn't go back to normal? What if she's still sick?"

Harry sighed and was silent for a moment. When he responded he said, "We ought to take her to Madame Pomfrey."

Hermione agreed. It was only Ron who thought this a bad idea. "We can't take her there!" He exclaimed. "All the teachers will notice and we'll all get in trouble!"

"But Ron!" Hermione protested. "We can't just leave her like this!"

"But she'll be in the hospital for a while anyway!" Ron argued.

"Not necessarily." Hermione told him. "She only has -" Hermione let out another sneeze and quickly wiped her nose with a tissue. "She only has a cold." She continued. "It'll take Madame Pomfrey a few hours at the most."

Ron looked as if he was about to argue, but then groaned. "_Fine_. But let's take her there now so she'll be back by tomorrow."

Hermione went upstairs to fetch the dozing Bella. Harry managed to grab Humperdink, and when they were all set, they set off for the hospital wing. Thankfully, the halls were deserted, so they had no trouble making it to the hospital wing without interference. Once they reached it, they noticed Madame Pomfrey bending over a sick Hufflepuff second year.

"Madame Pomfrey?" Hermione asked, peeking her head in through the door. "Bella – well I mean, Snape's daughter, has a cold, and we were wondering if she could stay here for the night?"

Without looking up, Madame Pomfrey nodded as she continued to give the second year a disgusting yellow looking liquid from a spoon. "Set her on a bed, I'll see to her in a moment."

Hermione, Harry, and Ron all stepped into the room. They set Bella on a bed away from the second year student and wrapped her in the warm blankets. Harry set Humperdink next to her. Once Madame Pomfrey was finished with the second year, she came up to them, and once she noticed Bella, let out a little gasp.

"Her hair!" Madame Pomfrey said. "What happened to it?"

"We don't know." Ron shrugged. "She just – changed it."

For a moment Madame Pomfrey said nothing, but then she frowned. "All right, all right. Get out of here. She needs some rest, and she'll be better in no time. As for the pink hair -" She shook her head and headed back to her office. "I must have an antidote here somewhere -"

"Madame Pomfrey?" Hermione suddenly called. Madame Pomfrey whirled around and raised her eyebrows. "What is it?"

"Will she be better by tomorrow?" Hermione asked, a little nervously. Madame Pomfrey nodded. "She needs her sleep, though." Madame Pomfrey warned.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked back to the classroom very happily. "See? We're not going to be murdered by Snape after all." Ron grinned.

* * *

Thursday morning seemed quiet and dull without Bella hopping around all over the place. Harry, Ron, and Hermione dressed and made it to a late breakfast. Afterwards, they headed to the common room in order to catch up on some of their homework. Hermione seemed much farther than Harry and Ron, so Ron managed to catch a few glimpses of her parchment before she snatched it away.

As Harry was finishing his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay he asked, "When should we get Bella?"

"This evening, before dinner." Hermione responded before Ron could open his mouth.

The afternoon went by quickly. Hermione miraculously managed to finish her entire pile of homework, while Harry and Ron still had a quarter of a pile left. Hermione snatched a book and began to read while Harry and Ron finished their work.

"Ron, what are you looking at?" Hermione asked after a few minutes. Ron kept anxiously glancing over to look at the fireplace.

"Nothing. I just think Snape's head is going to pop in there any minute now."

"Don't be ridiculous. He said he'd be coming later tonight. In which Bella will be completely cured." Hermione's eyes swept back to her book.

"Whatever you say." Ron mumbled.

When Harry and Ron had finished their work, which was not an easy task, they headed down to the hospital wing a bit early before dinner. The trio quickened their pace and once they reached the doors of the hospital wing, they stopped abruptly.

"Well?" Ron gulped. "Open the door, Hermione."

Hermione rolled her eyes and pushed open the door. They all peaked their heads in before they dared to set foot in the room. But as they moved their heads in Bella's direction, they heard Madame Pomfrey shout, "Oh Bella, _honestly_, your hair is much nicer when it is red!"

"Pink hair!" Bella shouted. The trio looked in Bella's direction.

Madame Pomfrey had managed to turn Bella's hair back to it's original state, but apparently Bella did not like it that way. After Madame Pomfrey would change it back to normal, Bella would turn it pink again.

"This is ridiculous!" Madame Pomfrey exclaimed. The trio rushed in, and once they had, Bella went into a fit of giggles.

"Look at my pink hair!" Bella exclaimed happily.

"Bella, listen." Harry said impatiently. "You need to keep your hair back to normal. If your dad finds out, he'll be _extremely _angry with us. I mean, you! He'll be very angry with you."

Bella's smile faded. "But I like pink hair." She said very quietly.

"We understand that, but everyone likes your red hair better! Please keep it back to normal." Hermione pleaded.

Hermione's words seemed to have done the trick. Once Madame Pomfrey gave Bella a spoonful of a thin purple liquid, Bella's hair changed back to normal, and Bella did not dare transform it back to pink.

"So, is she alright now?" Hermione asked Madame Pomfrey. Madame Pomfrey let out an exasperated sigh and said, "Yes, yes. You may take her now."

Harry, Ron, and Hermione led Bella away from the hospital wing. Bella seemed to have gotten over the fact that she could no longer turn her hair pink, because she was as bouncy as ever.

"I had to take yucky purple stuff!" Bella exclaimed as they walked down to the Great Hall. "And some yucky yucky green goop!"

"That's nice." Ron muttered.

Once they reached the Great Hall, Bella literally stuffed her face with anything she could find. Hermione had taken a seat next to her, and Harry and Ron sat across from them. They stared at Bella as she stuffed mashed potatoes into her mouth.

"Mione, give me chicken!" Bella squealed, pointing to a dish next to Hermione. Hermione grasped it and handed it to Bella. Bella stuffed her face.

"Wow." Ron grinned at Bella. "Cool."

"Why is she so hungry?" Harry asked. Hermione and Ron both shrugged and began to eat, trying to ignore all the stares they received from the other tables. Once the dinner food disappeared from the table and the deserts appeared, Bella squealed happily and started to fill her plate.

"She's going to be sick again." Ron muttered, grabbing a cherry tart before Bella could snatch it from him.

Hermione grew worried by Ron's words and said, "Bella, I think that's enough for now -"

"NO!" Bella shouted. She continued to eat her desert.

"Alrighty then." Harry chuckled. After Bella had managed to eat most of the deserts around their area, they headed back up the common room. Bella skipped and hopped around them all.

"Bella, maybe you should calm yourself." Ron informed her as they were securely inside the common room. Bella was jumping up and down on the cushions. "No!" She shouted, and continued to jump.

Hermione had grabbed Bella and had hauled her upstairs in order to change her into her pajamas. Most of the Gryffindor students were finishing their homework, or had gone up to bed. After about forty-five minutes, it was only Harry and Ron in the common room.

"Where's Hermione?" Harry asked anxiously. Snape would appear at any moment. As if answering Harry's question, Bella came running and giggling down the stairs. Hermione chasing her.

"Bella, come _back!_" Hermione called desperately. Bella was now running around the common room naked.

"No PJ's!" Bella yelled, and continued to run around. Harry and Ron joined in the chase. After a few moments, Hermione caught Bella and managed to force her into her pajamas. "No PJ's!" Bella shouted again, and tried to take them off. Hermione held onto her.

Before anyone could tell Bella to keep her pajamas on, a fire sparked up quickly in the fireplace. Snape's head floated beneath the flames.

"Daddy!" Bella squealed, and ran over to the fire.

It was a bit awkward for Harry, Ron, and Hermione to be sitting there while they had a father-daughter moment. Snape actually smiled and said to Bella, "Hello, dear. Are you having fun?"

Bella nodded gleefully and said, "We made a snow man and had a snowball fight and we played Queerditch and they got Humperdink for me and I lots of candy and we played lots of games and I flew on a chair and I turned my hair pink and I puked all over the carpet and -"

"Excuse me?" Snape's smiled had grown into a frown at Bella's last few words. His eyes darted angrily over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They seemed to be frozen to their seats.

"Well, you see Professor," Hermione began, a little shaky. "Bella got sick yesterday, she had too much candy." Snape looked as if he were about to shout in rage but Hermione quickly spoke over him, "But we took her to the hospital wing! She's fine now, honestly!"

Snape still looked extremely angry. His eyes then flashed over to Bella. She had looked completely fine a few moments ago, but now she looked sick.

"What's wrong with her?" Snape shouted. Hermione scrambled out of her chair and over to Bella. But before Hermione could stop it, Bella had puked into the fireplace, all over Snape's face.

Harry and Ron's jaw dropped. After they had gotten over the shock of it all, however, they tried their best not to burst out in chuckles. The fire had not extinguished, but Snape's face was full of vomit.

"Stay here!" Snape bellowed, then vanished from the fire. Ron and Harry took this opportunity to let out screams of laughter. Bella seemed to be laughing, too.

"Oh, oh!" Hermione squealed. "It was from all the food she ate! Come on, Bella, let's get you cleaned up! Quickly!" Hermione waved her wand at the mess of vomit, and it was quickly cleaned up. Hermione grabbed Bella's hand and yanked her away to the nearest bathroom.

Just when Hermione had pulled Bella into the bathroom, Snape's face appeared in the fire once more. His face was now free of vomit. Ron and Harry quickly stopped laughing. They had never seen Snape look so angry.

"She flew on a chair?" He bellowed. "You let her have candy when I told you not to give it to her? Her hair was_ pink!_" He now shouted angrily.

Harry and Ron were at a loss for words. "Pr – Professor," Ron began shakily.

"What do you mean she _flew on a chair_?" Snape growled, ignoring Ron.

"She started her wand less magic!" Harry shouted back. There was no point in lying now.

Snape said nothing for a while, his face seemed unreadable. But then he shouted, "Liar! She should not start her magic until the age of six or seven!"

"But we're serious!" Ron squealed back. "She flew on a chair and turned her hair pink! We had nothing to do with it!"

Just then, Hermione emerged from the bathroom with Bella. Bella looked as if she had never been sick, she was skipping back to the fire place. "Hi, Daddy!" She exclaimed.

"Bella, I need you to turn your hair pink." Harry told her sternly. He was not about to be called a liar from Severus Snape.

Bella said, "But Mione said I shouldn't do it anymore!"

"Well, we need you to do it now." Ron responded. Bella giggled, and a few moments later, Bella's hair was spiky and pink.

Snape was at a loss for words now. His eyes darted from Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Bella in astonishment. "See?" Harry told him.

"This is impossible!" Snape bellowed. "Just wait until I get back there -" He growled dangerously.

"Professor, please listen!" Hermione now squealed. "Bella is very gifted! Usually young witches and wizards don't start their wand less magic until the age of six or seven, but Bella has started hers at three! We would never do anything to harm Bella, honestly! She's doing it on her own!"

Snape seemed to consider Hermione's words. He stared at Bella a long time before saying, "Fine. But I still want to know why you've been feeding her candy. I told you specifically not to give her any!"

"We know! She just – likes candy a lot. . ." Ron muttered.

Snape frowned. Everyone was silent, they did not dare talk when Snape was glaring at them like this. After a few moments he replied abruptly, "I'll return on Saturday. If I hear that you have done anything else to Bella -" He once again narrowed his eyebrows and glared at the three of them. "You'll wish you've never been born."

And with that, he was gone.

"Bye Daddy!" Bella replied after her father had disappeared. She seemed to think he would still hear her, so she kept waving at the empty fireplace.

"Well, that was interesting." Harry grunted.

Ron was about to respond when Bella suddenly bellowed, "Spooky story!"

The trio raised their eyebrows and stared at her. "Um, Bella? What do you mean?" Hermione asked.

"I wanna hear a spooky story!" She squealed. Bella ran around in circles a few times before collapsing on the floor. "Tell me a story!"

"Bella," Hermione began. "I really think you need some rest -"

"_Spooky story!_" She screamed.

"Okay, okay, calm down!" Ron grunted. He plopped himself down on the sofa, as did Harry and Hermione. They were silent for a few moments as they watched Bella stare intently at them. Then, Ron awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Uh – once upon a time -"

"No, no, no!" Bella flailed her arms abruptly. "You gotta say it scary!"

Ron grunted. "Fine." He cleared his throat and said much lower and creepier, "Once upon a time, there was a werewolf named . . . um, Fudgy . . . McBloomers. Yeah, it was Fudgy McBloomers. And um, he was a scary werewolf. Really scary." Ron looked around at Harry and Hermione for support, but they were merely staring at him. He continued, "On full moons, Fudgy liked to go to um . . . the Shrieking Shack. He would howl and scare anyone who tried to get inside."

Bella's mouth was wide open and shaped like an "O", she seemed to be extremely intrigued with the story so far. She was staring at Ron. "What happens next?" She asked quietly.

"Well," Ron continued. He seemed to be a bit more confident with his storytelling. "One night, when someone tried to come into the Shrieking Shack, Fudgy tried to scare the guy, right? Well, the guy wasn't scared. So Fudgy offered him one wish, and to this day, whoever goes into the Shrieking Shack and isn't scared of Fudgy, gets a wish."

They were all silent. Ron was smiling to himself, as if he had just recited the world's greatest story. Then Bella asked, "What's the Shweeking Shack?"

"Oh, just the most haunted house in -" Ron began, but Hermione punched him in the arm. "Ouch!" He exclaimed.

"Ron, you're scaring her!" Hermione hissed. But Bella didn't seem to mind. Instead, she sounded intrigued.

"I wanna go to the Shrieking Shack!" Bella exclaimed. "Let's go!" She was about to get up and run towards the portrait hole when Hermione caught her.

"Bella, Ron's story isn't real!" Hermione cried, exasperated. "And you really must get some rest! Tomorrow we can . . . we can go ice skating on the lake if you want to!"

"Shweeking Shack!" Bella cried.

"_Thanks_, Ron." Hermione spat, pulling Bella up towards the girls dorms. Ron only shrugged and said, "I'm going to bed. See you all tomorrow."

Harry agreed, and Ron and himself headed up to the boys dorms in order to get some rest. After some struggling, Hermione managed to haul Bella upstairs and get her into her pajamas. After she got Bella in bed, Hermione told her, "Now, sleep well tonight. We can go ice skating tomorrow." She smiled.

Bella sighed and tried her best to fall asleep, but she just couldn't do it. After at least forty-five minutes, Bella was squirming excitedly. She heard Hermione's even breathing and, clutching Humperdink tightly to her chest, she crawled out of bed. After clumsily putting on her coat, boots, and mittens, Bella skipped downstairs and out of the portrait hole.


	8. The Shrieking Shack

**A/N:** Oh jeez, I am horrible. Yes, it's been three years since I updated this story. _Three years_. I'm horrible. I can't even begin to tell you all how sorry I am! I'm sure all of you dedicated readers have probably abandoned this story by now, but some of you that have this story on alert, thank you for your patience! I finally found some free time to myself and re-read this story, and I knew I had to finish it. I miss these characters to much. Sorry about the spelling mistakes in previous chapters, I'm going to fix them. Thank you for the continuous support and reviews over the years, I still get e-mail notifications to this day! So, review, review, review, and let me know how you like this chapter! I honestly think it was everyone's support that made me want to finish this so much. Thanks again everyone!

* * *

Hermione's eyes shot open from her deep slumber thanks to an uncomfortable series of sneezes that were incapable of stopping. She tiredly reached her hand over to her bedside time and grabbed a few tissues, hoping she wasn't waking up Bella in the process. After throwing the tissues away, Hermione tiredly shrugged back under her blankets and turned her head to make sure Bella was still asleep. When Hermione noticed the pile of blankets but no three-year-old, her eyes popped open and she was wide awake.

"Bella?" Hermione hissed. She hopped out of bed and searched the entire room. Bella was nowhere to be found. "Oh no, this isn't happening!" She muttered worriedly. Hermione quickly darted out of the girls dormitories and headed quickly up to the boys chambers. She quickly spotted Harry and Ron sound asleep in their beds, Ron snoring quite loudly.

Hermione rushed over to them and nudged them both.

"Bloody hell!" Ron jumped when he saw Hermione's untamed hair and wide open eyes staring at both of them, obviously distressed about something.

"Hm? Wha? What happened?" Harry muttered incoherently, reaching for his glasses at the bedside table. Once his eyes adjusted to the scene of Hermione acting frantic, he whispered, "Hermione? What are you doing in here?"

"It's Bella!" Hermione squealed, unable to keep her voice from cracking. "She's gone!"

Harry and Ron's jaws both dropped simultaneously. "What do you mean _gone_?" Harry hissed.

"Gone!" Hermione shook him again. "I don't know where she is! I tucked her in to bed and she was perfectly fine and I woke up with a sneeze and -"

"Hermione, calm down!" Harry whispered sharply. Hermione was starting to act frantic. "Go get your clothes on, we'll meet you in the commons in two minutes!"

Hermione nodded her head wildly and rushed back to the girls dormitories. Within two minutes, Harry, Ron, and Hermione were dressed and rushed down to the common room.

"She has to be around here somewhere!" Hermione whispered a little more loudly in the dark commons room. "Look everywhere!"

The trio searched every inch of the common room, but no Bella in sight.

"Blimey...what the hell do we do?" Ron asked as he stuck his head up the fireplace, seeing if there was a possibility that Bella was playing one of her hide and seek tricks. "If Snape finds out we lost his daughter -"

"No!" Hermione squealed. "We're not going to think about that right now Ron!"

"Wait a minute!" Harry suddenly stopped his search. Hermione and Ron froze and stared wide eyed at him.

"Did you find her?" Hermione asked excitedly.

"No, but I think I know where she is!" Harry explained. "Listen, she looks up to all of us. And she - wait, what time is it?"

Hermione looked at the clock in the common room. "It's about ten o'clock. We all went to bed about an hour ago, that's when I tucked her in."

Harry looked relieved. "Christ, I thought it was later. This is good. Anyway, remember when Ron was telling that story?"

"About Fudgy McBloomers? What about it?" Ron looked confused.

Harry went on, "She was asking about the Shrieking Shack! She wanted to go there and we wouldn't let her! Maybe she -"

"Oh God!" Hermione wailed. Then she turned on Ron. "Why did you have to go on about the Shrieking Shack, of all places?"

"Hey, I was just trying to tell a scary story like she wanted! It ain't my fault, bloody hell!" Ron said defensively.

"But how would she know how to get there?" Harry stated. "There's no way, she had never even heard of it before."

"Oh please, Harry," Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Bella has already started her wandless magic, she's capable of anything!"

"What do we do now?" Ron moaned in agitation, pacing back and forth. "We can't just go back to sleep like everything is all fine and dandy!"

"Oh course not! We have to look for her! Come on, you two!" Hermione headed for the door.

"What about Filch?" Ron wailed after her. "We can't just roam around the grounds at night, he'll be sure to catch us!"

"We don't have a choice Ron," Harry yanked him towards the door. "We all can't fit in my Invisibility Cloak anymore, we'll just have to try this one out."

As they headed out the door, not one of them dared the Lumos charm for fear of waking up the portraits and causing a raucous.

"This is a suicide mission." Ron squealed fearfully.

As the trio quietly headed out to the chilly grounds, they immediately darted for the Whomping Willow.

"There's no way she would've known to go here!" Harry hissed as they sprinted towards the historic tree.

"We have to try! It's the first place she would try and go!" Hermione stated. Once they all reached the Whomping Willow, they stopped abruptly. They all peered towards the ground where the secret entrance was located, then glanced back up to the tree. It was blowing silently in the snowy air, but other than that, there was no problem. They each tiptoed towards the entrance and one by one, they dropped in.

"Well that was a relief," Ron stated after he plopped down into the secret passageway. "I thought for sure we were gonna get clobbered -"

"_Lumos_!" Hermione hissed, and the end of her wand blew up in a blinding light. "Bella? Bella, are you in here?"

As the trio climbed deeper into the passage, each calling out her name, they entered an old wooden room with minimal furnishings.

"This place gives me the creeps." Hermione shivered. "Bella?"

Harry and Ron lit up their wands as they individually searched around the room for Bella. After less then a minute, Harry gasped.

"Guys...look what I found." Harry slowly held up Humperdink, who was in the corner of the room.

Hermione and Ron gasped. "That means she's here!" Ron stated excitedly. "Bella! Where are you!"

Just then, after a few seconds of heated anticipation, Bella popped out from under the old wooden bed that was unused in the shack and grabbed Ron's ankle. Ron screamed, quite highly pitched, and lunged into Hermione's arms, knocking her off her feet as they both fell to the floor.

"BLOODY HELL!" Ron shrieked. "That girl is going to kill me!"

"Bella!" Harry and Hermione shouted with relief. Harry caught her before she could even move as she giggled at Ron's reaction. He was still on the ground, clutching his chest as if he were suffering from a heart attack.

Harry plopped Bella on the bed and gave her Humperdink. Still giggling, she grabbed the stuffed frog and hugged her to her chest.

"Bella, oh goodness," Hermione stood up from the floor and brushed herself off. "You can't just run off like that! You frightened us half to death!"

"Yeah! You could've been killed...or gotten one of us killed, for that matter!" Ron piped up, trying to slow down his speeding heart rate, still gasping for breath.

Bella's giggles stopped and she stared at all of her friends concerned faces. She thrust out her lower lip and bent her head down, "I'm sowee, all I wanted to do was tell Fudgy my wish..."

"Bella, how did you find out how to get here?" Harry asked.

Bella looked up at him and smiled as if she had never been sad. "Poof! I went poof!"

"Right, the 'poof's' again," Ron mumbled as he stood up from his position on the floor.

"You just...appeared here? So you Apparated?" Harry looked appalled.

"That's completely impossible!" Hermione said. "It takes years to learn how to Apparate properly, there's no way -"

"Fudgy!" Bella suddenly shrieked, and pointed across the dark room. Immediately, Hermione, Harry and Ron whipped around with their lit wands to see what Bella was pointing at. In the doorway from the secret entrance stood a tall figure. Ron wailed and jumped back.

"Yaaay it's Fudgy!" Bella squealed and clapped her hands together. She then looked at Ron's frightened face and tugged his sleeve. "You can't be scared or Fudgy won't give you a wish!"

"Who's there!" Harry shouted, standing his ground.

"It's me, Harry." A familiar voice announced, and the figure stepped forward. It was Remus Lupin.

"Oh, Lupin! Thank goodness!" Hermione lowered her wand and advanced toward him in relief, "I thought for sure you -"

"I suggest you all leave. Now." Lupin said in a low voice. He was grasping on to the door panels, trying to control himself from something.

"What's wong with Fudgy?" Bella piped, jumping off the bed. "Do I still get ta wish?"

Lupin fell to the floor and dug his nails into the floorboards. Immediately, Hermione's eyes popped open wide in recognition.

"Harry," Hermione's voice shook. "It's a full moon tonight, isn't it?"


	9. I'm Flying!

**A/N:** Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! The next chapter will be the last for this story. Hope you all have enjoyed so far!

* * *

"Blimey..." Ron's voice trailed off in fear. "Let's get the hell outta here!"

Hermione grabbed Bella and Ron and Harry followed, stumbling over Lupin as he quicky transformed into a werewolf.

"But - but - my wish!" Bella squealed. "I wasn't scared!"

"Not now Bella!" Hermione panicked as they quickly reached the trap door and opened it into the harsh winter snow, which was now blowing angrily about in the cold night air. The second they heard a howl and angry thrashings coming from the room behind them, they all screamed and pushed Bella out into the snow, while they quickly followed. Hermione picked up Bella as she giggled at all of their frightened faces.

"You guys is scared of Fudgy!" She giggled gleefully. "No wishies for you!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione managed to make it back to the castle in record time, Hermione having a little more trouble since she was carrying Bella. As soon as they all caught their breath, they quietly snuck back into the building and crept into the Gryffindor common room, after angrily awakening the Fat Lady from her deep slumber.

Hermione plopped Bella onto the couch in front of the fireplace and fell into a chair besides her, filled with exhaustion.

"What...just...happened..." Ron panted, plopping down on the floor next to her. Harry did the same.

"Mione?" Bella sniffled, rubbing her eyes with Humperdink in her lap. "I'm sleeeepy." She yawned.

"Thank goodness!" Hermione exclaimed. She picked up Bella, and hauled her up into the girls dormitories so she could put Bella to sleep. After Hermione realized Bella had quickly dozed off under her blankets, she crept back down to the common room. Harry and Ron were chatting quietly.

"This is getting insane." Harry stated once Hermione sat down next to them. "She's...unpredictable!"

"She's a child, Harry," Hermione interrupted. "Besides, tomorrow is Friday. It's the last day we have to watch her."

"Blimey, still an entire day? Christ." Ron shook his head. "I won't make it through. It's been nice knowing you guys."

"Oh stop it, Ron." Hermione rolled her eyes. "Tomorrow will be fine." She looked at Harry and Ron's raised eyebrows and added, "I hope."

"Well, I'm going to bed!" Ron declared and stood up. He yawned dramatically, spreading his arms up in the air and mumbled, "G'night."

After Ron stalked upstairs to the boys dormitories, Hermione and Harry looked at each other in exhaustion. "I still don't understand how she's so good at all of this magic." Harry muttered.

Hermione sighed. "Harry, we discussed this already. She's started her wandless magic. It makes sense."

It was Harry's turn to sigh. "Whatever you say, Hermione. I'm off to bed."

"Same. Goodnight!"

The next morning at breakfast, Bella was bouncing up and down in her seat, picking at her blueberry waffles. She had drowned the waffles in syrup, and her sugar rush had quickly kicked in. Ron was falling asleep over his pumpkin juice, and Harry was drowsily picking at his scrambled eggs. Hermione was the worst, however. She had fallen asleep on the breakfast table.

"What we gon' do today? Huh?" Bella squealed, stuffing a forkful of waffles in her mouth. She looked at Ron and poked him with her fork.

"Ow!" Ron jolted awake and looked at Bella's smiling eyes. He scooted a few inches away from her and rubbed his arm where she had poked him.

"Ron! Ron!"

"What?" Ron shook himself as if to wake up, and picked up a piece of buttered toast and shoved it in his mouth.

"What you wanna do today?"

"Uhhmm," Ron gobbled his toast. "Let's...sleep. Yeah, I like that idea."

Bella frowned. "That's boring! I dun wanna! Harry?" She nudged him across the table. "What should we play today?"

"Wha?" Harry jostled out of his daze. "Oh, um. Whatever you want to do, Bella."

"Hmm," Bella smiled brightly and considered this, shoving more syrup-drowned waffles in her mouth, managing to smear plenty of sugar and butter on her face. Just then, her eyes lit up and she squealed "Snow hills!"

"Huh?" Ron said.

At the squealing, Hermione darted awake. "What happened! I wasn't sleeping!" A few heads turned at Hermione and she blushed in embarrasment.

"Snow hills!" Bella repeated. "I wanna go down snow hills!"

"Like...sledding?" Hermione asked.

Bella nodded crazily with her eyes almost popping out of her sockets. She continued to nod until Ron reached his hands out and set her still.

"We don't have any sleds." Harry pointed out. He looked at Hermione. "Do we?"

"Fred and George might have some," Ron piped in. "They've got loads of junk here."

"Sledding it is, then." Hermione glanced at Ron and Harry. "It'll be relaxing!"

Ron rolled his eyes and shoved more toast into his mouth as Harry smirked and finished his breakfast.

"Wheeee!" Bella banged her fists on the table and giggled. "Snow hills!"

Once they were all finished eating breakfast, Harry and Ron went into their dormitories to change into their winter clothes. Ron managed to grab two sleds next to Fred and George's bed that had been purchased in Diagon Alley a few weeks ago. Hermione once again bundled Bella into a ridiculous amount of pink winter clothing. Bella tried to wiggle her arms, but instead she could only hobble like a penguin.

When they all went outside, they noticed that it was a beautiful winter day. The snow was falling very lightly and the sun was shining brightly. The snow on the ground was completely clean, no footsteps had crushed it yet. Bella squealed, "Whee!" and hobbled into the snow, but instead did a face plant because she couldn't lift her tiny legs up high enough through the snow to run. Hermione quickly grabbed the giggling child and carried her over to a medium sized hill, as Harry and Ron followed with the sleds.

Once they climbed up the hill, Hermione set Bella down on the ground, panting for breath. "It's quite steep." Hermione said, and Harry and Ron merely chuckled.

"Sled!" Bella held out her hands and tugged on the sled that was in Harry's arms. He let it go and Bella sat down on it.

Ron sat down on his sled and said, "Ready Bella?" Bella nodded crazily and Harry gave Bella a little nudge, as Ron went flying down the hill behind her.

"Wheeeeeeee!" Bella squealed as her sled picked up the pace on the flat snow until she eventually slowed down after reaching the bottom. Ron landed further behind her due to him being quite larger than Bella.

"How'd it go?" Ron asked Bella as she grabbed her sled and hobbled up to Ron.

"So much fun!" Bella giggled and Ron helped her as they trekked back up the hill.

Next was Hermione and Harry's turn. They each grabbed a sled once Ron and Bella came back up and pushed off. Hermione smiled and laughed as her and Harry picked up speed down the snowy hill.

After a few turns down the hill, Harry and Ron decided to make a jump in the center of the hill.

"What's that for, Mione?" Bella pointed at Harry and Ron as they packed piles of snow onto each other in order to make a jump.

"Oh, that's just a little hill they're making. But you don't have to worry about that Bella, we'll just sled down the hill normally."

"But - but - I wanna try!" Bella pouted.

"Bella, it's too dangerous. Now come on, let's give it another go!" Hermione sat down on one of the sleds, and patted her lap for Bella to sit on. Bella did so and they flew down the hill once again. After they walked back up, they saw that Harry and Ron had finished their jump and were about to give it a go.

"Step aside, Harry," Ron smirked. "Let me show you how it's done."

Harry chuckled and raised his eyebrows. "Go for it, then." He said. "By all means!"

Ron stretched his muscles for a few moments as Hermione rolled her eyes. He laid down on his sled, stomach facing down, and positioned himself across from the jump. Bella watched awestruck. He then pushed himself forward and started sliding down the hill. As he tried to steer himself to jump off the hill, he ended up missing it by a few inches and tumbling down instead. Harry and Hermione let out roars of laughter as Bella let out a series of giggles.

When Ron eventually stopped sliding at the bottom of the hill, he stood up and brushed off his coat while Hermione and Harry continued to chuckle. "Shut up!" Ron shouted to them.

As Ron was walking up the hill, Bella gazed happily at the little jump. "I wanna go down!" She pointed at the hill and then at Harry and Hermione.

"No, Bella. It's too dangerous." Harry told her.

But Bella didn't listen. Instead, she grabbed the other sled that was next to Harry and laid down on her belly. But before she could even push herself down, Harry grabbed her legs. Bella merely continued to giggle.

"Bella, c'mon! It's too dangerous!" Harry said, trying to hang onto her legs even though he seemed to be slowly getting pulled down the hill with her. Harry then realized that Bella must have been using her wandless magic to push her down the hill.

"Hermione! Ron!" Harry shouted. Hermione threw herself over to Harry and wrapped her arms around his stomach, trying to yank him and Bella back. When Ron reached the top of the hill, he threw his sled down and grabbed Hermione.

Bella didn't seem to notice all of the commotion going on behind her. Instead, she just giggled and when she reached the slope of the hill, they all went flying down. Harry, Hermione, and Ron all let go of each other with a shout and started rolling down the hill. Bella on the other hand, was flying down the hill at a perfect angle in order to reach the jump. Once she said, Bella flew in the air and squealed.

Hermione let out a scream and Harry and Ron shouted. They each tried to get up and run down the hill in order to catch Bella when she landed, but the snow was so slippery that all they could do was fall down and roll down the rest of the hill. As they all reached their arms out however, they realized that Bella hadn't come down.

Ron's jaw dropped and he slowly lifted his finger to point into the sky. "Bloody hell." Harry and Hermione looked up as well.

Bella had gone over the jump, and her sled wasn't even thinking about landing. Instead, she was soaring into the air, flying, over Hogwarts. Bella shouted, "Look at me Mione!" and waved at the trio. In unison, Harry, Hermione and Ron all let out the same giant scream and started running towards her sled.

"WE'RE DEAD!" Harry yelled as they all darted towards her sled, trying to stay directly under it.

"Bella come down this INSTANT!" Hermione screamed. But Bella had flown over the castle roof to the other side.

The trio stopped running and started panting for breath. "What do we do?" Ron wailed. "He's gonna kill us!"

As Hermione was about to respond, a figure started walking towards them from the castle. It was Professor Lupin. They all gasped and stood there, trying to act normal.

"Hello, you three," Lupin gave them a half smile and put his hands in his pockets. Harry, Ron and Hermione all glanced nervously around. "Hello." They responded.

"How are things with Bella?" He asked.

"Oh, just - um, great! Just great." Harry smiled and nodded his head crazily. "Yeah, she sure is something."

"I agree." Lupin smiled, but then quickly frowned. "Where is she?"

"Hide and seek!" Hermione blurted quickly. "She wants us to find her."

Lupin eyed her for a moment and then nodded. "I see. Well," he smiled. "I have good news for the three of you."

"What is it?" Ron asked.

"Professor Snape is on his way home. His business matters have been attended to and he should be home by supper. He's looking forward to seeing Bella."

Ron's jaw dropped, but Hermione nudged him and he quickly smiled and shook his head. "That's great!" Harry said. "But if you don't mind Professor, Bella's probably freezing right now and we really should go find her."

"Yes, yes, of course." Lupin smiled and eyed the three of them. "It really is great what you've done for her. She needs good friends like the three of you."

"Yes, we know. Thanks Professor!" Hermione smiled. Lupin nodded his head, hands in his pockets, and walked back towards the school. Once he entered the building, Ron let out a ridiculous wail.

He squeaked. "We're dead."


	10. The Reunion

**A/N:** Alright, so this is the last chapter! After three years, it's finally finished. Whoo! I hope you all enjoy, and thank you for continuing to give support and read this story. It's been a blast!

* * *

"Alright, alright, let's stay calm!" Hermione panted nervously as she looked up towards the ice blue sky. "Ron, you take the west end towards the Whomping Willow, Harry -" she pointed at him, "You go in the opposite direction. I'll -" But before she could finish her sentence, the trio heard a squealing wail coming from above them. They each looked up and saw Bella flying higher into the air, spinning around in quick circles. She waved at them as their jaws dropped.

"She'll kill herself!" Harry yelled, attempting to run in the direction she was in case she was to take a fall.

"What do we do!" Ron whined, following Harry.

"_Petrificus Totalus!_" Hermione hollered as she pulled out her wand and aimed it at Bella. At once, Bella froze in the chilly sky and slowly started to fall down to Hermione.

Ron raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, that works too."

Harry embraced the falling child as she landed into his arms. Ron pulled the sled out of the way and Hermione flicked her wand and said, "_Finite Incantatem_."

Bella immediately shot back to reality and blinked a few times. She looked at Harry, smiled, and squealed, "How'd you do that!"

"Don't you ever - ever do that again! Do you understand me?" Hermione's voice was raised higher than usual as she leaned over Bella. Although it wasn't in a threatening way, Bella noticed the tone in Hermione's voice and started to whimper. Hermione noticed this and her eyes widened, "Oh no - Bella, I didn't mean it like that - don't cry!"

But it was too late. Tears streamed down Bella's face and she buried her tiny face into Harry's sweater. "Way to go, Hermione." Ron mumbled. She nudged him in the stomach and he whimpered.

"Let's just get out of the cold," Harry told Hermione, and she looked at Bella sadly. They all hiked back up to the Gryffindor common room. By the time Harry had set Bella down on the couch and Ron had put away the sleds, Bella had stopped crying. Hermione kneeled down besides her.

"Bella, I didn't mean to yell at you. You just gave us a fright! We were all afraid you were going to get hurt."

Bella looked at Hermione and smiled. "It's otay, I'm sowee Mione!" She let out her arms and Hermione smiled and pulled her into an embrace. "Come on," she said as she picked up Bella. "Let's get you out of these wet clothes."

As Hermione trekked up to the girls common room with Bella, Harry and Ron plopped onto one of the many cozy couches by the already blazing fireplace.

"Blimey, it's been a long week, hasn't it?" Ron mused, staring into the fireplace with a smirk on his face. "I mean, watching Snape's daughter is already bizarre in the first place. Then she turns her hair pink, barfs all over Snape's face, runs around naked, starts flying around in the sky." Ron chuckled. "I'm shocked we're still alive, really."

"Agreed." Harry nodded.

The boys stared silently into the fireplace, warming up from the chill outside. "Can't we just relax today?" Harry asked, burying himself deeper into the couch and drowsily closing his eyes. "I feel the lack of sleep catching up to me."

Just then, Bella thundered down the stairs, Humperdink in hand. Hermione followed quickly after her.

"I just saw a ghost!" Bella shrieked, climbing her way quickly into Harry's lap. She held Humperdink close to her and huddled up to Harry's chest. As Hermione tried to explain to her that Hogwarts was filled with ghosts and she had no doubt encountered one before, Bella merely squealed in protest.

"It was scawee!" Bella whined.

Ron chimed in. "Oh I know! Let's take her to Moaning Myrtle, that'll -"

"Moaning Meertle?" Bella looked up at Ron with her large green eyes imploringly. At that moment, Harry and Hermione gave him a look of extreme annoyance. Ron reddened and shrugged. "I figured we might as well do something to pass the time before Snape gets back."

"Yes, but is that really the solution?" Hermione snapped.

"Moaning Meertle! Moaning Meertle!" Bella chanted. She clutched Humperdink close to her chest and squirmed quickly out of Harry's lap. Before anyone could snatch her, Bella had booked it past the portrait hall.

"Not again!" Harry groaned, and the trio quickly chased her out of the common room.

It wasn't hard to track her down. Although she was a quick runner for such a young girl, she had no idea where she was going. However, Bella being Bella, she quickly managed to find her way to Myrtle's haunted bathroom.

"How the hell did she know where to do?" Ron panted as they reached the deserted girls bathroom.

"Are you honestly questioning that?" Harry laughed. "How does she know how to do a lot of things?"

"She's quite gifted." Hermione remarked. Bella sat down in between the rows of stalls with Humperdink placed in her lap. She looked up towards the ceiling, expecting to see something magical.

"Bella, how'd you know -" Ron began, but was interrupted by a loud squealing wail. Ron, Harry, and Hermione covered their eyes, but Bella just darted her head back and forth in order to see where the ridiculous sound was coming from. Emerging from one of the toilets with a loud splash was Moaning Myrtle. She hovered above Bella, her lower lip jutted out and her mouth protruding an annoying whimper.

"Why are you here?" Myrtle wailed. "Have you come to make fun of me too?"

Bella sat there frozen, frightened and yet very excited to be talking to a ghost. Her fear for the one that had quickly darted between the walls while Hermione was changing her in the girls dormitories seemed to have vanished.

"Hi! Why are you cwying?" Bella asked.

"Why? _Why_?" Myrtle wailed, and once again the trio covered their eyes in annoyance. "Because people think it's fun to laugh at poor, helpless Moaning Myrtle!" She yet again produced another obnoxious wail, followed by a heaping plunge in the toilet. Water splashed everywhere, and Bella just so happened to become doused with it.

"Oh no!" Bella screeched. She left Humperdink on the ground while she immediately rushed to the toilet and stuck her head in. "We hafta save her!"

"Bella, really, she'll come back out later. She doesn't want to be bothered anymore." Hermione explained, attempting to hold Bella's hand and pull her back.

"No no no! She'll get lost down there!" Bella cried, and snatched the plunger that was next to the toilet. She stuck it in, not knowing how to use it, but the _kerplop kerplop_ noises it made suddenly made her burst out in fits of laughter. She immediately forgot about saving the wailing ghost and continued to beat the plunger up and down in the refilling bowl of toilet water.

Hermione gave up on trying to pull her away, it was no use. Whenever she would grab Bella, Bella would stick the plunger to the toilet seat and continue to roar in fits of giggles. Hermione looked back at Harry and Ron for help, but they were only laughing at the sight of the small child, clearly having a blast with the plunger.

Hermione stared at them in frusteration for a moment, but she then realized that it was no use. Hermione let her chuckles overtake her, and soon she was laughing with the trio at the silly girl. Bella's hiccups and gusts of laughter at using the plunger in the toilet only made the trio laugh more, and soon they were rolling on the ground in fits of laughter.

"Look at me!" Bella squealed, and stuck the toilet plunger on her head. She grabbed Humperdink and squealed, "Wheeee!" A few seconds later, she had rushed out of the bathroom, prepared to show everyone her new hat.

Hermione, Harry, and Ron quickly got up and still laughing, went to chase her through the halls. They had bumped into Draco who had shouted, "Watch where you're going, filth!" But the trio hadn't even noticed him. They were too focused on the toilet watered drenched girl with a plunger on her head, running around the halls.

"Bella, get back here!" Harry shouted. She was making her way towards the Great Hall, where lunch was about to be served.

"No!" Bella squealed.

Eventually Ron was able to grab the squirming girl, who gave a few nods to classmates who were giving them all strange looks. Bella simply waved at them and said, "Hi!" to whomever she could.

Once they eventually made it back to the common room, Bella's energy had drained from her, and she was dozing in Ron's arms. Ron looked at Hermione and asked, "Well?"

"We'll have to clean her up again." Hermione answered., looking at the toilet watered little girl.

Harry and Ron looked at each other with widened eyes. Harry began haughtily, "If you think we're giving her a bath again -"

Hermione rolled her eyes, pulled out her wand and pointed it at Bella. "_Scourgify_." She said simply.

The toilet water vanished from Bella's clothing, hair, and skin, along with Humperdink. She was dry again and fully prepared to fall asleep in Ron's arms with the toilet plunger on her head. "Well bloody hell, why couldn't we have used that in the first place!" Ron exclaimed.

"Looks like she's ready for a nap." Hermione ignored him and said. Harry grabbed the plunger off of Bella's head with gentle force, and Bella barely noticed. She was officially asleep.

Hermione took Bella from Ron's arms and walked up to the girls dormitories. "I'll let her take a nap. Hopefully she'll sleep for a few hours."

* * *

And she did. Bella was asleep for almost four hours, and during that time Hermione was fully prepared to catch up with her homework. Harry and Ron filled the time with games of Wizard's Chess, cards, and dozing off. When five o' clock rolled around and students were coming in to take off their robes and get ready for supper, Hermione put away her homework and poked the dozing Harry and Ron.

"Snape should be here soon." Hermione smiled at them. Ron and Harry suddenly jerked awake, stood up, stretched, and yawned obnoxiously. Hermione ran up the stairs to go and wake up Bella. But about two seconds later, Hermione thundered down the stairs again.

"She's gone!" Hermione squealed, eyes wide in fear.

Ron simply rolled his eyes. "Again? Honestly, I think we should just let her run around -"

"Snape will be here any minute!" Hermione cried. "Honestly, how could she have slipped past us?"

"Don't question it." Harry mumbled.

The trio climbed out of the portrait hall and into jogged into the halls, when they quickly ran into Remus Lupin.

"Ah, there you are! I was just coming to find you." Lupin smiled. "Where is Bella? Snape is looking for her."

"He's back?" Hermione squealed. Harry and Ron stared wide-eyed at Lupin, and Lupin glared at them.

"Why does this seem to be such an issue?" His eyebrows narrowed. "Enough fooling around, where is she?"

"Hide and seek!" Ron blurted.

"Still?" Lupin asked.

"She has a lot of fun with it, Professor," Harry remarked. "We just hope we can find her quickly so that Snape doesn't kill us."

"Well, move it along then. He just returned about five minutes ago, he's expecting to see her before supper." Lupin nodded at them. "Can you handle that?"

"Of course, sir." The three students mumbled. Right when Lupin nodded and stalked off, they turned the other direction and started bolting.

"Blimey, where does that girl run to!" Ron panted.

"Who knows! But we better find her before -" Harry immediately broke off his sentence when right in front of them emerging from the corner, was Snape conversing with Albus Dumbledore.

"_Shit_!" Ron blabbed, and started to turn away when Snape hurriedly finished his conversation with Dumbledore and started stalking, extremely batlike, towards them.

"Oh, hello Professor," Hermione smiled nervously. "How was your trip?"

Snape glanced at her. "Fine, Miss Granger. Where is my daughter?" He eyed the three of them suspiciously when he noticed she was not with them.

"We're playing hide and seek, sir." Harry responded. "We're looking for her right now, actually."

"Hide and seek?" Snape hissed. "And what if she were to get herself lost or perhaps harmed? How could you be so foolish as to let her run around the castle by herself?"

"But she never gets lost, sir. It's her favorite game, really." Ron squealed.

"I should have never put her in the care of you three idiots -" Snape started dramatically. "Now my daughter is lost -"

"_Daaaaaaaady!_" A high pitched voice suddenly squealed from a short distance away. Bella was squealing happily with delight and running as fast as her little legs could carry her into Snape's warmly embracing arms. Snape seemed to have forgotten that Harry, Ron, and Hermione were still standing there, for he sweetly plucked Bella up from the ground and squeezed her into a warm embrace, rocking her in his arms. Her arms were wrapped tightly around his neck and her head was buried into his jet black hair. Snape planted a soft kiss on Bella's cheek and the trio cringed from the awkwardness.

Although, they had never seen their angry Professor show such affection like this before, and it left them looking dumbfounded at the reunited father and daughter. Snape soon remembered where he was and who he was previously speaking to, cleared his throat, and set Bella down on the ground, holding onto her sweet little hand.

"Well, you three are done with the burden of watching my daughter. You will be able to continue your classes tomorrow, and all of your school work should be finished." With that he nodded and stalked off, still holding onto Bella's hand. Bella turned her head around and waved at Harry, Ron, and Hermione with such happiness that they smiled and waved back.

During that night in the Great Hall as supper was served, Harry, Ron and Hermione ate in silence. Until Ron piped up.

"You know, that bloody git never actually thanked us for watching Bella." He stabbed his fork into his spaghetti and meatballs. "It's not like we begged to do it!"

"Yes, well, when does Snape ever truly show affection to his students?" Hermione asked. Ron shrugged and replied, "Still. It's not everyday he has students watch his daughter for a week."

Harry was looking over towards the staff table, where Snape and Bella were reunited in their familiar positions. Ron and Hermione followed his gaze. Bella had a forkful of pasta in her mouth, and her arms were flailing everywhere as she tried to explain something to Snape. She looked extremely happy.

"I bet she's telling him about her week." Hermione smiled.

Snape politely listened to his daughter. Occasionally he wiped her face with a napkin for she was eating like a wild baboon with pasta sauce smothered on her face, but most of them time he listened and seemed to be asking her questions, and she replied back with enthusiasm. A rare smile was planted on Snape's face. Not a huge smile, for that would be ridiculous of him. But a half amused, half adoring smile. A smirk almost, but not quite.

Suddenly, Bella pointed over to where Harry, Ron, and Hermione were sitting. Bella was smiling widely and explaining something very important in toddler talk, and Snape followed her pointed finger. He met the gazes of the trio, and stared at them for a moment. He looked back at Bella, who was gleaming with happiness and started waving to her three best friends. Snape glanced back over to the trio and gave a rare, appreciative nod, and continued on with his supper.

Hermione smiled. "That's good enough for me."


End file.
